Google lines up e-mail security tools on SaaS

BANGALORE, INDIA: Google has launched security tools for email filtering, encryption and archiving on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model.

Google’s security technology would keep junk mail and potential viruses at bay while protecting against leak of confidential information through email.

The company has developed the technology through the acquisition of Postini, which it bought last year for $625 million.

Google’s new offering works with any email system, including Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange and Novell Groupwise.

Commenting on the development, research firm Ovum said, “It shows how the big service players in the Internet are shaping up to compete on each others' territory.”

Graham Titterington of Ovum noted that Postini is benefiting from being a part of a large organization like Google.

However, he said, “Our main reservation about this development is that it is a piecemeal approach. Enterprises are looking for comprehensive security services, and to rationalize their supplier base. At a time when more malware is reaching enterprises through web browsing than through email, Google is divorcing its web security and mail security offerings.”

The announcement can be viewed as a move to challenge Microsoft.

Google ventured into the business software space in 2006.