Zimbra Open Source Email

First, let’s rewind a bit: Yahoo acquired Zimbra in September 2007. At the time of the deal, The VAR Guy worried that Zimbra would suffocate within Yahoo’s corporate infrastructure. Clearly, our resident blogger was wrong.

Officially, Zimbra says its email system has more than 60,000 customers and 41 million licensed/paid users. But sources say the figure is pushing fast toward 50 million (Note: Zimbra declines to say if 50 million paid users is a near-term goal).

In 2008, roughly 50 percent of Zimbra sales involved channel partners. Now, that figure is closer to 70 percent, according to Andy Pflaum, VP of business development at Zimbra.

Even without a formal partner program in place, Zimbra was ranked No. 6 in The VAR Guy’s Open Source 50 report, which tracks the most promising open source companies working within the IT channel.

Getting the Message Out

But Zimbra isn’t resting on its laurels. During a chat earlier today, Pflaum gave The VAR Guy a sneak peek at Zimbra’s imminent partner program launch. It will include:

Leaving SaaS to Partners

Now here’s the biggest potential twist of all: Zimbra has no plans to host its email for customers. That’s right, Zimbra is leaving the software as a service (SaaS) market to its 700 partners. (Zimbra rival Open-Xchange also has no plans to directly offer SaaS).

Translation: Zimbra and Open-Xchange are avoiding the “coopetition” challenges that occasionally undermine SaaS and managed services efforts from Dell, Microsoft and other big IT vendors that are exploring the on-demand world.

Roughly two-thirds of Zimbra’s partners are managed service providers (MSPs) and hosting partners, and roughly one-third are traditional VARs and resellers, estimates Pflaum.

Still, Pflaum is quick to concede that Zimbra’s channel approach also has its share of challenges. In particular, Zimbra wants to make sure it’s recommending the best, most qualified partners to customers. But occasionally, it’s difficult to vet out all of those partners, Pflaum said.

The VAR Guy will be watching to see how Zimbra’s partner mix evolves once the company formalizes its channel program.

The VAR Guy is updated multiple times daily. Don’t miss a single post. Subscribe to his newsletter, RSS feed, Twitter feed , Webcasts and Resource Center.