Managed Service Providers Abandoning Google Postini?

Apparently, a growing number of managed service providers (MSPs) are losing faith in Google Postini, a hosted email security and compliance solution. During the ConnectWise Partner Summit in Orlando, three separate MSPs told me they are moving away from Postini because of Google’s poor partner communications.

Google acquired Postini in September 2007 for $625 million in cash. But Postini layoffs in late 2007, inconsistent communications, and an unclear partner strategy have sent some MSPs heading for the exits.

In a video briefing that VARs can view on the Web, Google tells solutions providers about some of the company’s partner strategies.

However, MSPs attending the ConnectWise Partner Summit said Google’s Postini team has become less and less responsive to partners. One MSP that still promotes Postini said those efforts may end soon. The reason: Postini team members are increasingly difficult to reach on the phone, and support emails are increasingly routed to generic inboxes.

Google has been taking its share of hits at the summit. ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini  kicked off his keynote Tuesday by telling MSPs they had to keep Google, Dell and Microsoft out of their managed services clouds. “Google doesn’t even know who you are,” says Bellini.

Google: Friend or Foe?

I reached out to Google for an update on the Postini strategy but have yet to hear back. Admittedly, there could be hundreds of MSPs that are happy with Google Postini — but so far, I’m not hearing from them. And I didn’t “seek out” the disgruntled Postini partners here at the ConnectWise Partner Summit. Rather, they reached out to me.