Topic: Google snaps up anti-spam and data security firm Postini

[Amker]

Google has announced a $625 million acquisition of Postini, a major provider of corporate communications security and spam filtering services. Postini will become a wholly-owned Google subsidiary when the deal closes at the end of the third quarter.

Google is framing the acquisition as part of their Google Apps strategy, pitching Postini as the perfect addition to their Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs & Spreadsheets, and Personal Start Page efforts. Google will tap Postini's cadre of services to add security, archiving and policy enforcement to Google Apps.

Postini is a leader in offering e-mail security in the form of spam filtering, encryption, antivirus filtering, as well as compliance archival services. The company also offers instant messenger and web security.

"With this transaction, we're reinforcing our commitment to delivering compelling hosted applications to businesses of all sizes," said Chairman Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, in a statement.

In the conference call to announce the acquisition, Google and Postini were described as culturally similar, as both companies are heavily invested in software-as-a-service (SaaS). Postini's services are all hosted, and Postini CTO Scott Petrey said that the Google-Postini hookup will spur enterprise uptake of SaaS. Google and Postini both believe that IT shops are dying to outsource as much as they can at the right price.

Google hopes that this acquisition will make its hosted Google Apps far more attractive to businesses which have to comply with strict infrastructure security and compliance rules for data. Google believes that the absence of such security has hindered adaption of Google Apps, but a full integration with Postini services should erase that fear.

Postini would not discuss their recent financial performance, except to say that the company has been profitable since 2004. They currently serve over 11 million users.

Thanks for the Spam (filtering)

The big question is, what is the future of Google's own spam filtering efforts? Postini is a leader in corporate spam filtering, if not the leader. Google also runs its own spam filtering service that it uses for Gmail. Whereas Gmail's spam filtering was once much lauded, these days it has become yet another stab in the dark at spam.

Should Google turn around and offer Postini spam filtering as part of Google Apps, they'll pick up plenty of new users. Whether or not Google would offer Postini via its "ad-supported" Google Apps effort is not entirely clear, but the company certainly did not give any hints in the conference call that it would be looking to offer Postini services for a premium. Google said that it anticipates continuing to offer its hosted services in both free and subscription-based models, which in the words of Google Enterprise VP Dave Girouard, is Google's way of letting the market decide.

Google does have a fantastic habit of purchasing commercial software and services companies and turning their products lose on end users. While Postini isn't perfect (no spam filtering service is), I suspect I speak for many messaging system admins when I say that a free drop-in Postini spam and anti-virus filtering service could make the hosted version of Gmail for Domains considerably more attractive.
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