Europe's largest web host has launched a new hosted email platform. But while the system boasts functions similar to many found in Microsoft Exchange, it's actually open source.
When 1&1 puts OpenXchange Inc's Smart Collaboration on sale in the UK, it will only cost you "a few pounds", says the company. The idea is that if you have a society, club or small business you can set up hosted email quickly and cheaply.
"Open-source applications have always been of interest to us," says Andreas Gauger, CEO of 1&1. "But the Open-Xchange offering now shows that open-source has matured to the level where it offers an excellent mainstream email and collaboration product."
"1&1 will continue to call upon open-source channels where it is clear that our customers could benefit from innovation and greatly reduced licensing costs," added Gauger.
1&1 MailXchange will offer email, calendaring, contacts and task management together with advanced group features such as Smart Document Sharing.
1&1 has already launched the Open-Xchange platform in Germany and expects to do so in the UK, France and its growing US business by the early summer.