Reto Meier, in a published Google Notebook, has put together the business case for using Gmail as a corporate email system.

Features of Gmail that make it attractive as a corporate email system, according to Reto Meier include: robust off-site email system, view emails as a conversation, instant search available on all emails, no need to delet old emails (therefore have a copy of emails even years down the track), a web interface better than most email systems, excellent spam filter, mobile phone access to emails, and a fully integrated calendar.

One of the biggest objections about using Gmail as your corporate email is that you don't have the professional look of a corporate email address . . . really . . . didn't you know that Google has that covered as well. Regardless whether it is a tiny family group, a small business or a large corporate Google can provide you with emails from your own domain (e.g. JohnSmith@your-company-domain.com.

Now does this start to seem interesting? Think about it, you can have Gmail, Google Talk, google calendar, Docs & Spreadsheets, Page Creator, Google Notebooks all labeled under your own domain. Is this something we should consider or is it putting too much into one basket?