Postini is specialized in security and compliance solutions. Their main focus is in securing email and IM communication, mainly TLS based communications. Google is, well, globally the best search engine as well as the biggest provider of innovative solutions like Google Apps.

And now they are together. Google just aquired Postini.

Notably Google was already utilizing Postini technology with Gmail; the acquisition would appear to be a case of Google wanting to own a technology it was already using under license.()

Interesting, I didn't know that.

Basically, the move will enable Google to flesh out its Google Apps hosted applications, which include e-mail, calendar, instant messaging, Docs & Spreadsheets and Web page creation, with the security and government regulation compliance services that businesses need.(Webware)

Now this is something that came to mind when I first read the news. I think this will give Google Apps the security and 'weight' to be easier adopted by big companies. A very important step into the future.