New range of Google Apps could boost the web giant’s reputation among large enterprises…
“Google is adding more e-mail security and storage products for businesses, sharpening its aim on a Microsoft stronghold while the competition between the two rivals also heats up in Internet search and advertising…”
In an effort to better serve its business customers and to develop relationships with the customers of its competitors, Google on Tuesday plans to announce new e-mail security, encryption, and archiving services for corporate e-mail users.
Google’s new security and compliance offerings — Google Message Filtering, Google Message Security, and Google Message Discovery — will be made available to users of Google Apps and to users of other e-mail systems, including Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, and Novell’s Groupwise.
“Google also significantly reduced pricing for its line of on-demand security software as it continues to fine-tune the software applications it acquired last year when it bought Postini.”
The tools to be introduced Tuesday build upon technology that Google acquired last year when it bought e-mail specialist Postini for US$625 million. The package of products is designed to weed out junk mail and potential viruses as well as protect against leaks of confidential information sent through e-mail.
“Google also is offering to retain e-mail data for longer periods.”
“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.
The three offerings are compatible with any mail system and can be bought as standalone services or as part of the Google Apps Premier Edition, said the firm’s Dave Armstrong.
“What was once a convoluted and complex product line are now three nice chunks of applications at an aggressive price,” Petry said.
Businesses can choose the Google security and compliance services that best suit their needs:
Google Message Filtering
Google Message Filtering: Postini’s industry-leading service for filtering inbound anti-spam and anti-malware capabilities, 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, “is priced at $3 per user per year”.
According to Petry, the volume of spam doubled last year. “If you are an administrator, do you want to double what you spend on security appliances?”
Alternatively, Google’s approach of offering software as a service (SaaS) and storage online lets IT better maintain its infrastructure costs, he said.
Sundar Raghavan, product marketing manager from Google, said that Google is making these new services available because the threat landscape for e-mail users has been changing rapidly and the cost of complying with regulations keeps growing.
Asked whether Google sees the new services as a way to wean business customers off Exchange and Notes, Raghavan stressed that Google’s aim is to provide customers with innovative choices. He nonetheless acknowledged that Google is providing a potential migration path to Google Apps. “We think once they get comfortable with it … the customer experience will be so much better that they will be ready to use Google Apps on much broader level,” he said.
Google Message Security
Google Message Security combines Google Message Filtering with “enhanced virus detection,” outbound processing to prevent data leaks, and content policy management at “$12 per user per year”.
“Administrators can use the service to enforce policy rules for companies worried about growing external security threats and internal risks — for example, prevent Social Security numbers and credit card information from being transmitted via e-mail.”
Google Message Discovery
Google Message Discovery includes the Filtering and Security services, plus one year of searchable message data archiving, retention and discovery, available at: ($25 per user per year, no storage limit), with additional years available for “$10 per year per user”.
“The service is designed for companies seeking to reduce security exposure, and improve their readiness for legal discovery and message compliance.”
Google’s Armstrong argued that the packaged services would allow firms to “adopt hosted solutions at their own pace,” perhaps initially running Google Message Filtering alongside existing in-house security technologies.
“We are broadening our reach to the mid and SMB market but we are also simplifying things for enterprises,” he added. “We are able to bring technologies to market in a way that it is very easy for enterprises to adopt.”
“This shows Google is making a more coordinated effort to go beyond the Google Apps Premier brand and get into other areas like archiving and compliance,” Michael Osterman, principal at Osterman Research, said in a statement.
“The pricing is very significant. When you start at $3 per user annually, compared with what some other companies charge, that is almost nothing. Also, the fact you can mix and match only what you need gives companies a lot of flexibility,” he said.
Rebecca Wettemann, VP of research at IT consultancy Nucleus Research, said Google’s new services are not necessarily a threat to the primacy of Microsoft Exchange. “I think what Google is doing is first preserving the Postini customer base,” she said. Even so, she acknowledged, “It is certainly significant that they are offering this to run with any e-mail server.”
“I think it will attract a lot of people out in the marketplace looking for better spam filtering,” said Joseph Vaccone, founder of Excel Micro, a distributor of Google Apps Security and Compliance Products. Excel Micro currently manages about 140,000 e-mail accounts.
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.
“According to Google, it is used by more than 500,000 businesses and thousands of universities.”