[Infowarrior] - Google bags hosted security firm Postini for $625m

[Richard Forno]

Google bags hosted security firm Postini for $625m
Adds security muscle to Google apps
By John Leyden → More by this author
Published Monday 9th July 2007 15:15 GMT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/09/google_postini/

Google has announced a plan to acquire on-demand web security firm Postini
for $625m cash. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, is
expected to close by end of the third quarter 2007, after which Postini will
become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Google.

Postini's services - which include email filtering, archiving, encryption,
and policy enforcement - are used to protect customers' email, instant
messaging and other web-based communications from security threats and
productivity drains such as spam and viruses. The firm competes with firms
such as MessageLabs and BlackSpider (which was bought by SurfControl for
around $42m in July 2006, prior to its own $400m acquisition in April 2007).

Postini's technology is used by 10 million users at 35,000 firms worldwide.
BlackSpider protects 500,000 users at 1,200 customers (mainly in Europe).
The difference in size goes a long way towards explaining why Google paid 15
times more for a similar set of hosted security technologies.

Google said it plans to use Postini's technology to boost the appeal of its
Google Apps package of hosted office applications to larger businesses. It
also pledged to continued to invest in Postini's existing line of hosted
security products.

"The response to Google Apps has been tremendous, with more than 1,000 small
businesses signing up for the service every day. At the same time, large
businesses have been reluctant to move to hosted applications due to issues
of security and corporate compliance. By adding Postini products to Google's
technology, businesses no longer have to choose," said Dave Girouard, VP and
general manager of Google Enterprise. ®