Seeing the growing popularity of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for e-mail, the information technology research firm, Gartner has predicted that the future of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform is bright. According to the recently released study by Gartner, the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market for email will swell strongly in next 3 years.

The Gartner study has articulated that the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market, which represented just 1% of the commercial e-mail market in 2007, is expected to grow to 20 percent by 2012.

In the study, the Gartner analysts have stated that the SaaS model for e-mail will directly impact traditional third-party product vendors, by reducing the market for traditional applications by one-fifth. However, the SaaS model will develop opportunities for new third-party applications.

"The lost opportunity to the traditional third-party market may be more than 20%, because the earliest adopters of the e-mail SaaS model are small or midsize businesses (SMEs), which can represent up to 40% of the market when measured by the number of companies which are likely prospects. However, SMEs are less likely to buy third-party tools compared to larger organizations," Matt Cain, research VP at Gartner, said.

The Gartner study has warned that the SaaS model for e-mail will affect traditional third-party product vendors, to a greater or lesser extent, in four key areas, including - Applications Core To Running Premises-Based E-Mail, Applications Extending Core Services, Client-Side Applications, and Saas Management Tools.

The study, however, has stated that the demand for apps, like email management and migration programs for moving from on-premise to SaaS systems will increase, as companies look to move to the web-based model or manage hybrid environments.

Cain said, "To a certain extent, this winnowing of opportunities for third parties in the email market has been under way ever since Microsoft's Exchange 2007 incorporated features such as virus and spam blocking, voicemail and disaster recovery, which had previously been addressed only by third parties. In many ways, email is the 'litmus test' for the SaaS model, disrupting a pre-existing set of on-premises related businesses. We can expect similar third-party dynamics to occur in adjacent collaboration spaces, such as instant messaging and virtual workspaces."

According to the Gartner study, it will also have impact on the hardware market; 20% lesser traditional email users will mean lesser sales opportunities for server vendors, and SaaS providers will build their own servers or move to a single source model.