Postini’s sale to search engine giant Google has received a mixed reaction from its channel partners.
Last week, Google snapped up the email security specialist for $635m to accelerate adoption of its Google Apps suite among large enterprises.
The move follows on from rival Blackspider’s acquisition by Surfcontrol last year, which itself is in the process of being bought by Websense.
However, David Hobson, managing director of Postini reseller GSS, questioned how enterprise-focused Postini would “fit in” with the advertising-led business model of the search engine behemoth.
“On the plus side, there is no bigger brand than Google,” he said. “But Google’s whole concept is to index the world and advertise to it. If it were to start indexing corporate email, I would have a problem with that.”
Graham Jones, chief operating officer at Postini partner Integralis, said: “I’m pleased that Postini has a big sponsor behind it, because it guarantees it will be around for a while, which is a big consideration these days.
“What I would not want is Postini being sold through Mickey Mouse web sites, because that would devalue the brand.”
Peter Lorant, European marketing director at Postini, said it was too early to discuss Google’s plans for Postini’s technology, but emphasised the vendor had been instructed to plough on with its partner recruitment strategy.
“We both see Software as a Service as the way forward and Google wants to take us to even bigger numbers. We have 1,600 partners worldwide and will need to keep on growing that,” he said.
“We met with Google and they were at pains to point out that they think Postini is not broken and does not need any fixing. Google knows we’re working extremely well within the business-to-business market and is delighted with our customer relationships and technology.”
Philip Witheridge, director at Postini partner Grove IS, said: “This opens up a whole new avenue for Postini and really strengthens its brand. As for Google, the deal effectively gives it enterprise credibility around its Google Apps solution.”
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