It looks like Cisco is going head-to-head against e-mail software giant Microsoft with its $215 million acquisition of PostPath, a maker of e-mail and calendaring software. PostPath apparently touts its 
PostPath Server e-mail and collaboration server as a replacement or supplement to Microsoft Exchange. What's more interesting is that Cisco plans to put the server in the cloud and selling an e-mail and calendaring service to its customers - this is perhaps Cisco's first formal offering in the oh-so fashionable cloud computing space that pundits have been busy discussing.
The software will be added to Cisco's WebEx Connect collaboration platform, expanding WebEx's software-as-a-service offerings, which include instant messaging, team spaces for collaboration, wikis and document sharing.
Our sister site Microsoft Subnet earlier this month profiled a company that said no to Exchange and yes to PostPath, Globe Manufacturing, Pittsfield, N.H., The Linux-based PostPath server (CentOS) was chosen by Globe as an alternative to Exchange because it bills itself as a drop-in replacement for Exchange and far less expensive. Globe isn't doing VoIP and has no plans for unified communications, so it doesn't need Exchange's fancier features. However, not that PostPath is Cisco's, we expect those fancy features, via Cisco's unified communications products, will certainly be integrated. Read more about How one customer said no to Exchange but yes to Outlook and Windows Mobile (part 1).
Also of interest is this LinuxWorld podcast: Cisco offers Microsoft Exchange replacement (19:59)
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Cisco still foggy about cloud services
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Cisco buys PostPath
This is one of the greatest news I've heard today.
Cisco is a software company and it is good that they provide enterprise applications services too due to the pervasive nature of network infrastructures today.
Why does Cisco Unity (and other products in their UC range) require Exchange or Domino as their repository, while Cisco could come up with something of their own?
This is a great direction for the company. One other suggestion I make to the company, when filling up their surveys, is that they come up with a directory service offering too, like MS AD and Novell's eDirectory, as it forms the basis of enterprise application services infrastructure.
And of course, none of their products should come on MS Windows kernels. Interoperability doesnt mean running on Windows.
My 2 pesewas!
Felix Nkansah
Handle larger stores?
Maybe compared to Exchange 2003, but ever since Exchange 2007 was released Microsoft has been pushing for every mailbox to have a default size of 2 GB. The storage and archiving infrastructure was designed around that exectiation.
Cisco makes the messaging market more interesting
The acquisition of PostPath by Cisco certainly makes the email and collaboration space more interesting. Cisco now offers a robust email server in PostPath, good security through IronPort and collaboration capabilities through WebEx. I don't expect companies to be moving away from Exchange in droves, but the Cisco offerings offer an interesting alternative along with those of several other vendors.
Michael Osterman, Principal Analyst, Osterman Research
This sucks
Right now it appears Cisco is not going to allow this to continue to be a standalone product. Scalix and the others are a pain in the rear and postpath showed some promise and I was going to be looking to recommend it to my clients. Cloud computing to me really is overblown and has too many pitfalls.
The Exchange Alternative Market
the exchange alternative market has been thriving for long, comprising of "hosted exchange" companies and pure alternatives like postpath. if you do a google search on "exchange alternative" the company which appears below postpath is HyperOffice . they have a compelling solution (integrated email messaging and collaboration)and they recently launched HyperMeeting , a web conferencing solution integrable with HyperOffice, also making them an interesting player in the "complete collaborations" or "unified communications" market.
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