When Google Inc. bought hosted security and compliance vendor Postini for $625 million in July, experts said Google was aiming to boost the security and compliance capabilities of its emerging Google Apps product. The speculation was that Google was hoping this move would attract larger enterprises as Google Apps customers.

Less than three months later, Google has announced that it is officially adding Postini’s security and compliance capabilities to Google Apps.

Naturally, larger companies with bigger security and compliance concerns might be tempted to consider Google Apps now. However, analysts and users have warned that Google Apps is a nice supplement to other office productivity suites like Microsoft Office. No one, not even the smallest SMBs, really sees Google Apps as a replacement technology. Most of the components of Google Apps still have the “beta” sticker on them, even Gmail, which seems as standard a Google App as apple pie these days. I feel like I’ve been using it since I was a wee lad.

Anyway, SMBs with compliance concerns will probably welcome the Postini features, too.