Google Acquires Postini for $625 Million

The newest addition to the Google family will provide better security for Google Apps.

Last week GrandCentral was Google’s latest new toy, this week it’s Postini. The Internet giant announced its $625 million acquisition Monday morning, which is of course still subject to closing agreements and is scheduled to conclude in the third quarter of 2007.

Unlike with GrandCentral’s acquisition, we won’t have to speculate about how Google will be integrating the company’s technology with its own. Postini’s claim to fame is on-demand communications security, which they already provide to 35,000 businesses and 10 million users worldwide. According to the press release, this security will be worked into Google Apps, including Gmail, Calendar, Talk, Docs & Spreadsheets, and the Personal Start Page.

“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,”  said Google Enterprise’s vice president and general manager Dave Girouard, in a statement. “By adding Postini products to Google’s technology, businesses no longer have to choose — employees get the intuitive products they want, and the company achieves the security and assurance it needs.”