Can Amazon woo enterprises away from Outlook, Gmail with WorkMail?

Amazon.com Inc accelerated its efforts to win over corporate clients by announcing an email and scheduling service that will compete with Microsoft Corp and Google Inc. The service, dubbed WorkMail, will launch in the second quarter and has been developed by the company’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services (AWS). It highlights Amazon’s efforts to convince deep-pocketed companies to shift more of their work to AWS. [caption id=“attachment_2070099” align=“alignnone” width=“380”]  Screengrab from AWS official blog[/caption] Launching an email and scheduling service is likely the first step toward a broader suite of Amazon tools to gain corporate clients, analysts said. For example, Google’s Gmail offers many other services beyond email and calendars including file-sharing and video conferencing. How WorkMail rolls WorkMail makes use of a number of AWS services including Amazon WorkDocs (formerly known as Amazon Zocalo), the Directory Service, AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), AWS Key Management Service (KMS), and Amazon Simple Email Service (SES). WorkMail users have access to all of the usual email features including calendaring, calendar sharing, tasks, contact lists, distribution lists, resource booking, public folders, and out-of-office messages. The browser-based interface has a full array of features and works with browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and newer (IE 9 and higher) versions of Internet Explorer. WorkMail can be used in conjunction with WorkDocs for controlled distribution of documents that contain sensitive information. Needless to say Amazon is paying extra attention to WorkMail’s security controls. This includes features such as location control where the administrator can choose to create mailboxes in any supported AWS region. All mail and other data will be stored there and not be transferred to any other region. Data in transit to and from Outlook clients and certain iPhone and iPad apps is encrypted using S/MIME. Data in transit to other clients is encrypted using SSL. Data at rest (messages, contacts, attachments, and metadata) is encrypted using keys supplied and managed by KMS. Incoming and outgoing email messages and attachments are scanned for malware, viruses, and spam. As far as mobile device policies are concerned, the WorkMail administrator can selectively require encryption, password protection, and automatic screen locking for mobile devices. The administrator can also remotely wipe a lost or mislaid mobile device if necessary. Will Amazon’s gamble pay off? AWS has spent the last couple of years trying to get corporate clients on board because big businesses spend more on datacenters than startups, who were the initial focus of its business. But there are concerns that Amazon is spreading itself too thin, given its other sizeable investments in areas like Hollywood-style production and consumer devices. “Email is a Trojan Horse into the enterprise,” Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said. He added that email is a $1 billion opportunity for Amazon given the popularity of AWS and Amazon’s willingness to sacrifice margins for volume. If Amazon adds more services for companies, it could bring in about $10 billion more in extra revenue, Sebastian said. With inputs from Reuters