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San Jose: Cisco Systems , the networking company has called off its recently introduced cloud e-mail service called Cisco Mail . The new service struggled in the enterprise market for 13 months before its withdrawal. It appeared in the market in November 2009.
"The product has been well received, but we've learned that customers have come to view their e-mail as a mature and commoditized tool versus a long-term differentiated element of their collaboration strategy. We've also heard that customers are eager to embrace emerging collaboration tools such as social software and video," wrote Debra Chrapaty, Senior Vice-President and General Manager, Cisco's collaboration software group, in a blog post.
Cisco invested $250 million on its first hosted cloud e-mail service. "Cisco's failure, after investing $250 million, demonstrates the challenge of penetrating a mature market, and the difficulty in delivering a complex and demanding cloud-based application service," wrote Matthew Cain, Vice President and lead e-mail analyst at Gartner, in a research note.
Cisco Mail was introduced with an idea of providing a platform for enterprise to have an option of outsourcing e-mail hosting responsibilities. The growth of Google Apps two years earlier seems to have captured the entire market and to some responsible for the failure of Cisco Mail.
Google Apps package contains e-mail, calendaring, and other productivity tools, along with 25 MB of storage per employee for $50. They provide wider storage capacity for less money. In recent months Google secured Virgin America and the U.S. General Service Administration as clients. Microsoft also unveiled its own cloud computing package, Microsoft Office 365, which includes Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online. Exchange Online offers 25 GB of storage capacity for $5 per user per month.
Cisco assured the existing Cisco Mail customers to assist them with their smooth transition to other alternative e-mail options. The company will also support the customers for the length of their contract.