Instead, is it possible that Google aims to position DocVerse as a hosted alternative to SharePoint for workgroup collaboratation, delivering a Wave-like functionality that integrates with Microsoft Office as a separate service from its Apps? The universe of Microsoft Office users is a massive order of magnitude larger than those using Google Apps, or who will use Google Apps in the next few years, so why not challenge Microsoft’s two big growth engines - SharePoint, and the forthcoming Office Live Workspace to provide a real-time collaboration capability compatible with Microsoft’s desktop suite?

I think Chatter has the potential to be extremely disruptive. Salesforce brings some inherent strengths to the table, it’s arguably the most widely deployed software as a service, via the SaaS delivery model Salesforce can bundle Chatter with the services it’s already providing to end-user customers, in effect going around IT and undercutting more centralized attempts to bring social computing to the enterprise via stand-alone platforms such as Confluence, Jive, and SocialText, or as add-ons to collaboration tools such as SharePoint or the Notes/Domino/Quickr suite. Salesforce also points to the opportunity for its development partners to integrate Chatter into the tens of thousands of Force.Com developers, but to succeed Chatter must evolve beyond a Salesforce-based application and offer the opportunity to integrate into other collaboration applications. It must also overcome concerns related to compliance and security of storing potentially discoverable conversations in the cloud.

I think the biggest issue with Buzz is its reliance on Gmail. Google makes the assumption that your e-mail contacts are your buddies, but that’s not necessarily the case. I’ve got a lot of folks in my in-box who are business or casual acquaintances, or whom are on mailing lists that I’m on, and who aren’t friends I’d want to follow. The people I want to follow are all in my Facebook account, but Google doesn’t yet connect to Facebook. If there’s a “killer app” that will move people from Facebook to Google, I don’t see it.   Buzz may have some use as another social computing channel, but at this point I don’t see it replacing Facebook (or even LinkedIn).

Where Buzz, I think, has the greatest appeal is in creating a social community within companies using Gmail or Google apps as their corporate messaging environment. Buzz just fired a shot across the bow of all the social computing software or service vendors targeting SMBs. If you are already paying for a corporate Gmail service, you just got a whole suite of social tools as well.

There is one other problem, it doesn’t work. At this point I don’t see the “Buzz” link in my Gmail in-box, and from following various twitter comments, neither do many others.

Update: Buzz has a massive privacy flaw

FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, issued new guidelines this week designed to help financial firms balance the need to enter the social world with the need to meet electronic records retention rules. The problem for enforcement managers so far has been the lack of tools. While companies such as Facetime Communications have introduced social site enforcement gateways, it remains difficult to cover all the bases as social sites rapidly grow. Ultimately the heart of any successful compliance strategy is user training and a solid acceptable use policy for those accessing social sites. Financial firms would be wise to carefully read FINRA’s recommendations and proactively take measure to limit their risk.

IBM’s announcement, coupled with Cisco’s recent introduction of public social hooks into its Enterprise Collaboration Platform demonstrate a continued convergence of public and private social networks. These moves highlight the reality that social network such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are increasingly used for legitimate business purposes rather than for entertainment or catching up with friends and family, but they also raise alarms for those responsible for governance, compliance, and security. I expect that over the next year we’ll see a continued battle between those responsible for information protection and those looking to improve collaboration. Vendors can help their odds of success by addressing compliance concerns up front.

We’re starting to get a lot of questions from our enterprise clients about SaaS-based collaboration offerings. Key factors driving interest include potential for cost reduction, simplified infrastructure, and the ability to easily deploy a robust and reliable set of services across the globe. Key concerns limiting interest include the lack of customization, concern that customers will get a “lowest common denominator service” and concerns related to guaranteeing performance of Internet-based applications. I expect to spend a lot of time in 2010 following the rise of cloud-based collaboration.

The story behind WebEx Mail is simple: Deliver a hosted messaging service that easily integrates into current Exchange environments, addresses Microsoft’s shortcomings around mailbox size management, and reduces total cost of ownership. With WebEx mail Cisco hopes to attract customers who have extensive Exchange deployments and are thus more likely to consider Microsoft’s collaboration and communication offerings since they are already a “Microsoft Shop”.

Cisco’s offering squarely hits its target. By supporting Microsoft’s MAPI protocols, WebEx mail requires no change to a user’s client environment. Cisco claims WebEx Mail supports all Outlook clients and plug-ins; meaning migration from a back-end on-premise Exchange server to WebEx mail requires no changes for the user, a huge plus for IT shops looking to avoid disruptions. Mailbox sizes start at 5 GB, with up to 35 GB optionally available, allowing users to eliminate complexity of PST files to reduce mailbox sizes. And at $5.00 a user, plus $1.00 for BlackBerry support, Cisco presents a compelling cost argument to those struggling with Exchange management costs.

Cisco also delivers a sophisticated web-based client, built on AJAX, and according to Cisco delivering a feature set closely matching the thick-version of Outlook. And, Cisco’s web client allows users to easily group similar messages into communities, which can be synchronized with Cisco’s Enterprise Collaboration Platform (more on that in another post).

So what are the drawbacks? With Cisco’s stated goal of attacking the Exchange installed-base, Cisco offers the same support for Mac / Linux users as Microsoft - a second-class client, or ActiveSync synchronization between Snow Leopard equipped Mac’s mail/calendar/address book and Cisco WebEx Mail. Or, Mac users can stick with Entourage until Microsoft ships Outlook for Mac in 2010. Additionally, Cisco noted that Lotus Notes customers wishing to migrate to WebEx Mail would require custom consulting to move their mail stores and calendars into it’s service, meaning additional costs and complexity. Cisco could have gone after the growing Mac end-user market (Nemertes notes 33% of companies are increasing Mac support), instead only IBM Lotus offers a single client strategy for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

While Cisco touts its robust web client for non-Windows users, unlike GMail Cisco’s web client doesn’t have off-line capabilities. Finally, in leveraging Outlook, Cisco’s client strategy doesn’t support extensible application development and plug-ins as Lotus does through Eclipse.

Will these shortcomings matter to the majority of the market that relies on Exchange and Windows desktops? Probably not. And for those organizations, WebEx Mail presents a compelling alternative to continuing to invest in on-premise Microsoft Exchange servers.

XMPP’s fortunes turned around rather quickly in the last three years, first with Google’s decision to focus on XMPP as the basis of its Gtalk instant messaging platform, even working with XMPP standards groups on a XMPP derivative known as Jingle to support voice and video. Then Cisco gobbled up Jabber Inc., the commercial firm delivering enterprise-class XMPP platforms. (While there continues to be a lot of confusion around Jabber and XMPP, it’s important to remember that XMPP is a protocol, while Jabber.org is an open-source IM service, and Jabber Inc. was a private company delivering XMPP-based enterprise IM platforms.)

XMPP continues to gain momentum, with Google Wave using XMPP as its messaging protocol (extending it through the Google Wave Federation Protocol). Now, through its Jabber acquisition, Cisco has embraced XMPP as the basis for its presence federation services (Cisco Unified Presence) as well as instant messaging services delivered either on-premises through Cisco Unified Personal Communicator 8.0, or Cisco WebEx Connect Instant Messaging, supporting any XMPP-capable client application such as Pidgin or Adium. Previously Avaya had announced support for XMPP as well, both to federate with Google Apps, as well as to support federation with XMPP services through its Aura Presence Services.  

While SIP continues as the dominant protocol for voice and video, it’s clear now that XMPP has gained a new lease on life. Will we see a change in direction away from SIMPLE for Microsoft and IBM?