Google ramps up email defense offerings

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google on Tuesday began marketing new online tools for protecting email from spam and other problems as it continued to encroach on the terrain of software king Microsoft.

Google unveiled email security services built with technology from Postini, a start-up the California Internet titan bought last year for $625 million.

The software protects, filters, encrypts and archives email, and is compatible with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, and Novell Groupwise.

Google said subscription pricing for email security starts at $3 a year per user to "accommodate the budget of any business."

Premium online services that include virus protection and saving messages is priced at $25 annually per user.

"As threats rise in volume and complexity, and compliance requirements pile up, IT is struggling to find the resources to keep up," said Google director of product management Scott Petry.

"Now, Google can take care of this for you."

Google's new email security service comes as Microsoft is courting Yahoo with a $44.6-billion buyout offer aimed at combining resources to better challenge Google in the flourishing Internet realm.

Email security services are the latest additions to the Google Apps platform, which offers Internet-based computer programs including text, spreadsheets, and appointment calendars.

The offerings are part of a trend toward software as an on-demand service hosted "in the cloud," or online by an Internet firm, instead of being installed and maintained on users' computers.

US firm Salesforce.com, which specializes in "software as a service," recently topped a million subscribers and its chief executive Marc Benioff predicts annual revenues will pass a billion dollars this fiscal year.

Salesforce.com has a "strategic alliance" with Google.

Microsoft has built its fortune on packaged software installed on computers, but is shifting increasingly to online on-demand services as well.

Microsoft is hoping to bolster its position in the Internet market by buying struggling Yahoo, which has seen its fortunes sag while Google's have soared.

Yahoo's board of directors is mulling the $31-per-share buy-out offer from Microsoft, which is pressing Yahoo for a quick response.

Nearly 588 million people visited Google websites in December, while the combined total for Microsoft and Yahoo websites was 665 million visitors, according to industry tracking firm comScore.

Microsoft and Yahoo claim 15.7 percent of the worldwide Internet search market, compared with Google's dominant 62.4 percent share, according to industry-tracking firm comScore.

However, Yahoo is the world's most popular web-based e-mail service, used by 257 million people, and if combined with Microsoft's offerings would claim 77 percent of the instant messaging market, comScore reports.
By Glenn Chapman - Agence France-Presse