Open Xchange gets $9 million in funding

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 4th November 2008
Comments (10) Stumble
Open Xchange gets $9 million in funding

The Open Xchange server promises to remove one of the last stumbling blocks for enterprises looking to move to open source.

The possibility of running an all-open-source office just got a step closer with the news that Open Xchange has secured a second round of funding.

CNet reports that the startup, which has the lofty ambition of offering an open source groupware and collaboration system similar to Microsoft Exchange for companies, has successfully added to its round one funding of $8.8 million with a second round of $9 million, for a total investment of $17.8 million. Clearly, someone out there believes that the world needs an open-source Exchange equivalent.

The lack of Exchange-like functionality is one of the reasons often given by companies as to why they don't switch to open source, away from the Microsoft monopoly in the enterprise market. Although there are all-in-one desktop applications like Evolution Mail which offer Outlook functionality, the open source movement still lacks an all-in-one backend system often required by any company beyond a certain size. By offering the ability to share e-mails and documents and to have centralised calendars and address books Open Xchange aims to give these companies something to think about next time their Microsoft licensing comes up for renewal.

While Open Xchange isn't the only game in town – other Exchange-alikes include Kolab and Zarafa – this latest round of funding may finally bring the support and functionality up to a level where companies can finally start looking at open source as a drop-in replacement for their legacy software.

Do you know of any companies already using open source for their back end operations, or is it difficult to get the suits away from their Microsoft Partner Statuses? Is penetrating the enterprise market the key to extending the reach of desktop Linux? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Quote B3CK 4th November 2008, 11:26
The sky is falling!

No really it is, I see lots of open source coming through the sky.
Quote proxess 4th November 2008, 11:44
This definitely is the right direction.
Quote johnmustrule 4th November 2008, 20:14
I don't think buisnesses will switch, I think it's Microsofts tech support and the insurance of that, wich keeps costomers coming. You don't get that security with openoffice.
Quote steveo_mcg 4th November 2008, 21:16
This has nowt to do with open office, businesses are tied to MS because of the general fear of trying something different. Most large companies have foss somewhere in the business and more than one linux provider has made a very good business by selling the kind of insurance companies want and its not the kind of thing your thinking off.
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 5th November 2008, 10:35
All the open source stuff is very bad for business, jobs and all other things related to that. In the end its a worldwide disaster to happen, when we all use free open source software, company's go bust, no more employments, no more income, no more consumers shopping for stuff, more company's go bust, like supermarkets and such.

Just like people who think oil is evil for the environment and want all oil banned from their lives and go "green" but these short minded green fools forget that oil is used in EVERYTHING from food to medical stuff. and not ONLY as fuel. Morons...

Quote RTT 5th November 2008, 10:57
Obiwan that's a very narrow minded view. Don't forget you're using the internet which is largely powered by open source software and just look how many businesses and jobs that is responsible for.

How is it a bad thing if a business that may currently suffer from less-than-par resources suddenly has an option available for a fraction of the cost? Big companies will still pay for Exchange (etc) because they need the support and reliability that comes with it. They need someone to ring at 3AM to say "help, we're screwed right now". And, of course, new businesses will spring up who offer support on the open source software - just like RedHat & Ubuntu are doing. Plus, if it gets big, you'll find it'll be picked up by a big company like Sun who will provide jobs for the developers. It's not all bad, far from it :)
Quote steveo_mcg 5th November 2008, 12:00
Quote:
Originally Posted by RTT
Obiwan that's a very narrow minded view.
*Snip*

I took him as being sarcastic, maybe i'm just an optimist.
Quote RTT 5th November 2008, 12:49
Haha, well if he was being sarcy then he got me good and proper :D
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 10th November 2008, 07:55
All my post are mostly sarcastic. Its my type of humor. But next time i will sign off with a smile so you will know what mood i am ;)
Quote fantastic dan 27th October 2009, 15:21
Have any of you used or looked at Open Exchange? It's not free. Granted from what I can see it's cheaper than exchange when you factor in CALs but it's still going to be reasonably pricey to impliment. Open Exchange are going to need to show a mighty good ROI reduction and a bulletproof migration plan if they want to drag people away from exchange. It's a tier 1 application for many companies where cost of down time per hour is 6 figures plus.

I'd say their best bet is to look to smaller rather than larger shops where they will be more flexible in their groupware requirements.

Edit: Wow, didn't realise I was bringing up such an old thread. This was on the front page?
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