Symantec scrambles to ward of Microsoft

Symantec Corp.'s recent acquisitions of WholeSecurity Inc. and Sygate Inc. were seen as nice, complementary purchases for the security giant, but Symantec has ambitious plans for the companies' technologies that could begin an overhaul of its core product lines. In the coming months, Symantec plans to integrate behavior-based malicious-code detection from WholeSecurity and endpoint compliance technology from Sygate into the Symantec anti-virus engine. The company also plans to replace its enterprise firewall with Sygate's technology.

Symantec will use the new technology in both its consumer and enterprise products. WholeSecurity's Confidence Online client will be integrated into Symantec's anti-virus engine within the first half of next year. The company's Confidence Online for Web Applications thin-client technology will be rolled together with Sygate's On-Demand client, replacing nascent IPS (intrusion prevention system) technology that Sygate had developed with WholeSecurity's mature behavior-based IPS.

Symantec is moving quickly to add new features in an effort to stay one step ahead of competitors, including Microsoft Corp., which will soon offer its own consumer and enterprise anti-virus and anti-spyware technology, said David Friedlander, an analyst for Forrester Research Inc., in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

CATEGORIES: 1vendors, 1endpoint security, 1AV, 1admission control, 1IPS, 1aquisitions