Survey: Microsoft Tops List In E-Mail Seats, Lotus Retains Top Revenue Slot

According to market-research firm IDC, Microsoft garnered 30 million new Exchange Server users and IBM's Lotus Software Group nailed down 14 million new Domino seats in 2001.

"In terms of revenue, Lotus is still doing pretty well, but in terms of new license numbers in a very mature market, Microsoft has been able to squeeze out 30 million new users, not including some 10 million seats licensed for use by service providers. It was a bang-up year for them," said Mark Levitt, IDC research vice president. In essence, Microsoft can take the cost of an Exchange license off the table, he noted.

Microsoft has a huge advantage in that its sales reps can pitch Exchange Server into accounts upgrading their desktop and server operating systems or Office suites, Levitt said. "Microsoft can say to these folks, 'For a couple bucks extra, you can have Exchange access, even if you don't use it right away, it's there for you," Levitt said.

The researcher surveys new users of what it calls Integrated Collaborative Environments, which pair basic e-mail with calendaring and scheduling, discussion threads and other perks.

The winner in terms of overall seat count is Microsoft, which IDC said now sports 83 million total Exchange users, up from 57.5 million in 2000. Lotus Domino is second with a total of 74 million users, up from 66 million. Novell came in a strong third with 34 million GroupWise users, up from 26 million.

Levitt said while Microsoft added 30 million new seats, it also lost some seats, showing a net gain of 25.5 million seats. Microsoft earlier this month claimed 109 million Exchange seats sold, but that number includes as-yet-undeployed software. "There's always some lag time" between sale and implementation, said Exchange Server Lead Product Manager Chris Baker.

As usual, the vendors lauded the parts of the survey that painted them in a good light and disparaged glowing claims by their competition. "This shows us doing well in the area that matters most: revenue," said Ed Brill, senior manager of solutions marketing at Lotus, Cambridge, Mass. IDC showed Lotus retaining superiority there with $804 million in Domino revenue last year. Microsoft showed up with $646 million in revenue and Novell with a very healthy $100 million in revenue.

Brill also discounted the 30 million-seat number. "I don't particularly think that number is conceivable in a market that overall declined 2.7 percent. In a year of decline, Microsoft posts its best seat count ever? It raises eyebrows."

Baker maintained that the IDC findings back up earlier third-party research showing Exchange deployed more widely than Domino.