Lotus Notes trumps European messaging market

Lotus Notes users are growing twice as fast as Microsoft Exchange users in Europe, according to the latest research from IDC.

During the last quarter of 1999 Lotus gained over 3.5 million new users across the continent, with Microsoft's installed base increasing by just 1.3 million.

The figures show the installed base for Lotus increasing by 19 per cent compared to Microsoft's increasing by 15 per cent. The increases bring Lotus Notes' total number of users up to over 16 million across Europe. Lotus recently announced a worldwide installed base of 56 million.

IDC analyst, Rebecca Wettemann, said that Lotus' success is attributed to its product success, which went beyond simple email platforms to allow companies to build full knowledge management applications.

The research showed Novell continuing its decline, taking only four per cent of new messaging users.