Email: The tip of the cloud iceberg?

The use of internet hosted email services - such as Microsoft's Hotmail and Google Mail - will fuel the business uptake of "cloud services".

That's according to analyst house Gartner which says IT applications provided over the internet will be boosted by the widespread use of this kind of email.

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Currently one per cent of commercial mailboxes use this kind of system but Gartner predicts this will rise to 20 per cent by 2012.

This will be driven by falling prices and large vendors coming into the email market meaning it could change significantly.

Matthew Cain, a research VP at Gartner, said the past few years have created the environment for cloud based technology with big players such as Dell, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! all investing in the technology.

With the consumer mail platforms serving millions of users Cain said there is a clear opportunity to transfer these economies of scale to enterprises.

He added small businesses, those undergoing email transitions and those with complex geographic topologies could all benefit from cloud email services.