Google unveiled products for email security and message discovery

Google last week unveiled a series of products powered by Postini, which Gogle acquired July last year, that deliver message filtering, encryption and archiving for any business environment. Google's new security services work with any mail system, including Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, and Novell Groupwise, and with pricing starting at $3 per user per year can accommodate the budget of any business.

I think this will prove to be great opportunity for other other Managed Services Provier as it will validate this business model and expand the business; at the same time the MSPs will now have to target differentiated products in order to compete against Google's market power and deep pockets. The market is huge as enterprises increasingly face stricter compliance requirements. Even if I look at the email services provided by universities, I frequesntly see spams and other marketing mails creeping inside -- google's offering may help filter such mails.

Here's the Google's press release:
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (February 5, 2008) – Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced a series of security products Powered by Postini™ that deliver message filtering, encryption and archiving for any business environment. Google's new security services work with any mail system, including Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, and Novell Groupwise, and with pricing starting at $3 per user per year can accommodate the budget of any business. Customers can sign up online and immediately begin to improve the security of their email.

“As threats rise in volume and complexity, and compliance requirements pile up, IT is struggling to find the resources to keep up,” said Scott Petry, director of product management, Google. “Now, Google can take care of this for you. Organizations of all shapes and sizes can get access to Google's industry leading security and compliance technologies.”

Companies of all sizes are seeking solutions to the challenge of security and compliance. For instance, outbound message filtering helps prevent sensitive data from going outside the company firewall, which could result in identity theft or compromise a client's personal information. Also, increasing industry regulations are creating demand for better message storage, with quick and easy retrieval.

Businesses can choose the Google security and compliance services that best suit their needs:

Google Message Filtering™
-- Postini’s industry-leading service for filtering incoming spam and malware
-- for companies looking to handle the growth of spam, virus and other email threats, and want to shift the burden off of on-premises resources
-- $3 per user per year

Google Message Security™
-- includes Google Message Filtering, plus enhanced virus detection, outbound processing, and content policy management
-- for companies worried about growing external security threats and internal risks, such as email data leaks or content compliance violations
-- $12 per user per year

Google Message Discovery™
-- includes Google Message Security, plus one year of message data archiving, retention, and discovery
-- for companies seeking to reduce security exposure, and improve legal discovery readiness and message compliance
-- $25 per user per year for one year of archived data (additional years of data retention available separately)

The new packages are part of the Google Apps platform and are available immediately at www.google.com/a/security, direct from Google, and through channel partners, and can be deployed within hours. The Google Apps suite also includes Gmail™ email services, Google Docs™ for documents, spreadsheets and presentations, Google Calendar™ shared calendaring, Google Talk™ instant messaging, and the Start Page feature for creating a customizable home page. Policy management and 90-day message discovery services are also available at no additional charge to Google Apps Premier Edition users.

Google Apps is used by more than 500,000 businesses and thousands of universities. Go to www.google.com/a for more information. These new services are Powered by Postini, and based on the same technology that protects email for nearly 40,000 customers and 14 million users a day. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPizh9EBW3o to hear what some of our customers have to say about using Google Message Security.

Here'a an analysis by Jeff Kaplan from SeekingAlpha