11 February 2008
by Simon Quicke
Resellers wondering what a managed security service might look like have been given food for thought by Postini’s decision to slash the price of its hosted services.
The Google-owned email filtering and archiving specialist has unveiled a strategy to supply security services for $3 per user per year for its incoming filtering package and $12 for outgoing filtering.
The options, which include $25 a year for email archiving as well as filtering, have been incorporated into the Google Applications portfolio.
Email filtering rival Webroot said in a statement that the move would undermine the channel and indicated a lack of confidence in the Postini product.
Neil Hammerton, vice-president of software as a service (SaaS) development at Webroot, said: "On the face of it, dropping prices by 75 per cent appears to be good news for the customer. However, to me it clearly indicates a complete lack of confidence in the technology behind the service.
"Moreover, this appears to be terrible news for Postini’s reseller partners who will see their deal values slashed literally overnight.
"One has to question whether a reseller earning a fraction of its historical revenue will be able to offer the same service and support as previously," he added.
One reseller said it had seen the announcement in the US but had not yet had any communication in the UK and was waiting to see if there would be any impact on its relationship with Postini.
But Google responded by downplaying any potential damage to Postini channel partners.
"We expect our partners, who have been key to our growth in EMEA, to benefit from the reach of the Google brand, the volume of new customers, recurring revenue stream from a loyal customer base and the opportunity to sell additional services.
"By making these products simpler to buy, implement and support, our partners see a great opportunity to increase their customer base and accelerate the adoption of software as a service," said Peter Lorant, head of enterprise EMEA at Google.
