Washington, May 11: Software as a service and cloud computing might not ring a bell for many today, but that's what is going to rule the roost in future for corporate giants. And with Google unveiling a re-branded Web Security for Enterprise, it has raced ahead of Microsoft in taking a major step towards the future.

Traditional desktop applications, e-mail, word processing, and calendars, which are considered to be Microsoft's domain, have now been put into the cloud, and with this step Google has relieved corporations of the administrative burden of having to buy hardware, install software, and hire people to maintain.

The technology, Web Security for Enterprise, is based on the Postini technology Google acquired last year.

This Web-based service protects corporate Web and e-mail users from viruses, spyware, and malicious Web sites, and will also provide protection directly to remote workers if needed.

All this is part of Google's hosted apps business, and is mainly aimed at corporate customers instead of consumers who expect, and get, hosted services for free.

With corporations doing away with the administrative burden of having to buy hardware, install software, and hire people to maintain it, the costs for them will be greatly reduced. This would allow them to focus on their core businesses.

By enhancing the security of its hosted offerings, Google has removed a large hurdle to widespread corporate adoption of its hosted services.

"Securing the current enterprise environment is futile. This is a problem Microsoft should have fixed a long time ago," CNetnews.com quoted Philippe Courtot, chief executive of Qualys, which offers security as a service to corporations, as saying in an interview.

He also predicted that with an arsenal of search, Web-hosted apps and the advertising-supported "money-making machine...Google is going to kill Microsoft."