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If this development centered on another subject, we'd wonder why Google labeled everything as "powered by Postini" - the phrase hints at a lack of corporate pride.  But openness is an important part of security, and Google's message security and compliance services are trying to get off to a good start.

The most basic package offers some fairly standard email filtering.  The next step up adds outbound email processing, email encryption, and several options relating to content policy management.  At the top tier, users will gain message archiving and retention.

All in all, these choices are neither bad nor knock-your-socks-off impressive.  But the pricing - the three levels cost $3, $12, and $25 per user account per year, respectively - may turn some heads in a positive way.  Also, in typical Google fashion, it looks like allowances are being made for non-profit organizations.

Finally, Rebecca Wettemann, the vice president of research at Nucleus Research, told Thomas Claburn, "It's certainly significant that they're offering this to run with any e-mail server."

So as usual, Google seems to be onto something here.  We'll try to see what sort of client list the company builds up over the next few weeks, and if, given the nature of these offerings, anyone's willing to talk about it.