PostPath - Solid Linux mail server which talks to MS Exchange

PostPath is the first company outside of Redmond to build protocol compatibility with Microsoft Exchange (famous for using undocumented protocols). Interestingly, the PostPath server runs on Linux but appears to the system as a valid Exchange Server. A nice feature is that the Linux tools for high availability can be leveraged as opposed to the Microsoft route.

Postpath is billed as drop in replacement of Exchange server for the companies looking for a rock solid email and collaboration server. Microsoft has a very strong grip in any Enterprise environment, with Microsoft products being used from desktop to the server room and everywhere in between. For any new entrant in the Enterprise space, it is always an uphill task to kick in the enterprise doors and convince the customers to switch to a non-Microsoft products or even to try it out. Their demo at DemoFall 2006 was certainly impressive.

In my opinion the key to Postpath success would lie in finding the way to penetrate the enterprise and giving them a very compelling reason to try it out or switch. Watch out for this company along with Zimbra.

Further Reading:
Postpath named Top 10 startups to watch
New methodologies for ‘bottomless’ e-mail storage
Network World’s Unified Communications Newsletter
Michael’s thought blog has an interesting post
Follow the discussion on Ed Brill’s blog on Collaboration & Technolology
PostPath goes after Microsoft Exchange at ReadWrite Web blog