Google Snaps Up Postini

Google latest acquisition is a noteworthy one: The company has acquired Postini, the hosted security service provider, for $625 million in cash. Google says Postini will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Google when the deal closes late in the third quarter of this year.

"This really does reaffirm our commitment to delivering hosted applications to small businesses," says Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager at Google Enterprise. "The history of Google Apps goes back to the launch of Gmail in 2004. In February, we launched [the fee-based] Google Apps Premier Edition." Girouard notes that the potential of this acquisition lies in the combination of Postini's security services with the manageability and cost-effectiveness of Google Apps, a suite of apps that includes Gmail, Calendar, Talk, and Docs and Spreadsheets. "You'll have the best of both worlds. There's nothing to install, there's nothing to maintain. Our products are very neutral and very scalable. More than a 1,000 small businesess have signed up every day."

Girouard doesn't have a breakdown of how many of Google Apps' 100,000 users are using the paid edition; nor does he offer more clarification on the number of business users. But he does not that the company has seen a significant amount of interest in Google Apps from large businesses and universities. And, he says. "The overlap between Google Apps and Postini is very small. We're at the early stage of Google Apps."

The intention is to continue to maintain existing, standalone Postini products as well as offer Postini technologies within Google products. "We absolutely intend to keep the Postini services independently, regardless of what e-mail or IM system you're using," says Girouard. However, the new arrangement "may make it easier for those already using Postini to try using Google Apps."

According to Girouard, existing Postini users shouldn't worry: Google will continue support for the standalone Postini products "indefinitely." He expects there to be further integration between Google products and Postini's technologies--deeper than what's already in place as of an April deal for Google to use Postini in Gmail--but he couldn't comment on specifics. "We don't have anything to announce about how we will combine these products," he says.

Security and corporate compliance--two of Postini's specialities--are critical to growing the market, and the trust in, hosted applications, says Girouard. "Security and compliance are a must. We believe this is a business that Google should be in, and it's a fundamental part of delivering hosted applications. Instead of having to go to multiple companies to put a solution together, now you can just go to one company." The resulting system that will come from the marriage of Google and Postini, he says, "will be more secure than existing systems."

The deal is significant not only for the technology and associated infrastructure it brings to Google and its products, but also for what it brings to small businesses. Postini has largely been limited to larger enterprises; it was less than a month ago that its services became accessible to smaller businesses, through a deal with Iomega, whereby Postini powers Iomega's OfficeScreen Managed Email and IM Security service. Among the services Postini provides: e-mail security, IM security, Web security, message archiving, message encryption, and compliance policy-enforcement.

Comments

Post a comment Post a comment

0 / 1000 max characters