Symantec: Expanding Its Reach

Symantec’s mantra has long been “put security wherever there is data.” And as customers extend enterprise mobility to more computing devices as well as their interactions with partners and customers, the company’s reach is expanding.

According to Symantec, more than one-fourth of all new threats detected are network-based attacks targeting vulnerabilities at computing and data endpoints.

Symantec’s acquisition of Veritas in 2005 for $13.5 billion—and other vendors including Altiris, IMlogic and Sygate in recent years—has helped the firm become an even more potent source for optimizing an enterprise mobility strategy, says Gregg Davis, CIO of Webcor Builders, a San Mateo, Calif.-based commercial builder.

“The strength of Symantec’s security products combined with Veritas’ backup products is proving to be a good mix,” Davis says. Product releases subsequent to the acquisition have seen a migration toward a common look and feel, he adds. Although he’d eventually like to see a single comprehensive platform, intermediate steps to create consistency in terminology, screens and the management consoles of the products should be beneficial.

A longtime user of a variety of Symantec and Veritas products and services, Webcor turned to the company to manage and secure about 500 laptop computers and 350 PDAs. A blend of Symantec and Motorola’s GoodLink (now called Good Mobile Messaging), which enables and encrypts e-mail on handheld devices, has brought the builder’s mobile strategy into greater focus, Davis says.

Symantec’s products are also helping to secure the mobile devices at Kettering Medical Center Network (KMCN), which manages five hospitals and 51 other medical facilities in the Dayton, Ohio, area. KMCN’s 5,000 connected devices, including about 1,000 laptops and 300 PDAs, are continuously monitored by Symantec Managed Security Services, which sends the hospital network’s I.T. staff an e-mail whenever it detects suspicious activity, such as a potential unauthorized user.

KMCN first turned to Symantec in 2003. Faced with increased scrutiny on the health-care industry with regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), KMCN conducted a complete network security assessment with Symantec, according to Bob Burritt, the hospital network’s director of technology.

Over the next two years, the hospital network deployed about a dozen different Symantec products and services, including AntiVirus Enterprise Edition and AntiVirus for Handhelds for general protection against malicious Internet attacks, Client Security to provide graphical reporting and centralized management, and DeepSight threat management services to track security threats and provide early warning of potential attacks.

“We’ve always put a premium on keeping small issues from escalating into big problems, and for a hospital network, the number-one prevention issue is security,” Burritt says.

Another established customer is Farmers & Merchants Bank. Over the past seven years, the bank, with 20 branches in Los Angeles and Orange County, Calif., has implemented more than a dozen different Symantec security products, including AntiVirus Enterprise Edition and Web Security.

When the bank first began issuing cell phones to employees, the phones were strictly for communications and held no sensitive data, says Robert Graham, the bank’s senior vice president of information systems. But as workers began using PDAs in recent years to carry information such as contact lists, the bank added AntiVirus for Handhelds Corporate Edition.

According to Graham, Symantec’s willingness to let the bank take part in beta testing has allowed it to have an impact on finished products.

“We have vendors, and we have partners,” he says. “Symantec is definitely one of our partners.”

At A Glance

Symantec
20330 Stevens Creek,
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 253-9600
www.symantec.com

TICKER: SYMC (NASDAQ)

EMPLOYEES: 17,500

John W. Thompson Chairman and CEO

Mark Bergman EVP and CTO

PRODUCTS: AntiVirus Enterprise is the flagship of a wide range of security software products.

CUSTOMERS: Aon Corp., Credit Suisse Financial Services, Global Crossing, Hilton International, The Weather Channel

FINANCIALS

2007FY2006FY2005FY
Revenue$5.20B$4.14B$2.58B
Net Income$404.38M$156.85M$536.16M
R&D Expenditure$866.88M$682.13M$334.05M

*Fiscal year ends March 30.

Source: Company Reports