GMail is Not Enterprise E-Mail: Binary Tree

October 26, 2010 Alex Woodie

Binary Tree, a developer of utilities that streamline the management and migration of major e-mail and collaborative groupware environments, will no longer help customers migrate to Google‘s e-mail service, the vendor announced recently, citing its customers’ experience that Gmail offers “less functionality,” substandard security, and a poor overall experience.

Time was, IT vendors down the food chain would bend over backwards to please the industry’s market makers, such as IBM and Microsoft. Today, Google is the pre-eminent force for all things Web, and many vendors spend a lot of time and money to build relationships with the vendor. The last thing they would want to do is anger the Google god.

That is, unless you’re Binary Tree. The vendor, which is a seasoned veteran of the collaboration war that has been raging for years between IBM and Microsoft and their respective products, Domino and Exchange, gave Google and its Gmail service the veritable smack down last month, as it exited Google’s enterprise partner program.

According to Henry Bestritsky, co-CEO of Binary Tree, it’s simply a matter of customer demand. Customers would rather run on Microsoft and its Exchange products than move to Google’s hosted Gmail service, he says.

“The customers we’ve talked to about moving to the cloud, regardless of their size, have told us that they don’t want to move to an e-mail system that offers less functionality and decreases their end users’ overall experience,” Bestritsky states in a press release. “They are used to a full-featured user experience for e-mail, calendaring, and collaboration, and won’t compromise their users’ productivity to save a few bucks.”

The security of Gmail was also cited by Binary Tree as a reason for severing the relationship. “The companies we have spoken to in Europe have specific requirements for privacy and security that haven’t been met by Google’s hosted solutions,” stated Stefan af Bjur, general manager of Binary Tree’s operations in Europe, in a press release. “This is especially true of the multi-nationals with offices in Europe.”

af Bjur was recently hired to spearhead Binary Tree’s move into Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. The company also recently opened new offices in Stockholm, Sweden, and Singapore.