In Depth

Analysis: Security Industry Consolidation

The churn and froth in the infosec industry never ends, as vendors consolidate, spin off and reposition. But are CSOs getting better security as a result?

By Larry Walsh

November 07, 2007 — CSO — Perhaps it's apt that Symantec chose "Hamlet" as the code name for its Endpoint Protection Version 11. After all, the infamous, indecisive prince of Shakespeares tragic tale suffered from longing ambition and a failure to vanquish his enemies to achieve his ultimate aims. The same might be said not just of Symantec, but of the entire security industry as it tries to sort out its ultimate

composition. Consolidation versus standalone companies. Best-of-breed point products versus holistic suites of security technologies. Security specialists versus one-stop shops for all IT needs.

Symantec is just one example of the Hamlet dilemma. Since its 2004 merger with Veritas, critics have charged that the worlds largest security company has lost its focus as it has broadened its horizons into storage management software. Longtime customers and partners have complained bitterly about the decline in quality in Symantecs security technology and support. Earlier this year, Symantecs resellers were in near revolt over the bloated Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10, calling it an ineffective, unmanageable "resource hog." Hamlet is designed to restore confidence in Symantecs security products.

"Were trying to be more cognizant of users and their resources," says George Myers, a Symantec director of product management on the Hamlet project. "None of these technologies is a silver bullet, which is why you need layered technologies."

Symantec Endpoint Protection combines the power of multiple security technologies—software firewall, antivirus and malware protection and intrusion prevention—in a package with a significantly smaller footprint that its predecessor. It reportedly will have a 21MB footprint as opposed to the nearly 100MB of space required for Version 10.

Symantec hopes its new release will help squelch its critics. Some customers and—no surprise—competitors blamed Symantec's security product woes on a lack of focus. Since the 2004 merger with Veritas, Symantec has spent most of its energy on the storage market and lost its way on security, critics charge. While Symantec made key strategic acquisitions to bolster its security offerings—such as the purchase of Sygate for its endpoint security and Altiris for configuration management—it completely abandoned the security hardware market and the rapidly growing unified threat management appliance market. Meanwhile, the onetime world's largest freestanding security company is now drawing most of its revenue from storage and data management software sales, particularly through the sale of products it inherited from Veritas. According to the 2007 Symantec annual report, gross revenue soared more than $1 billion and profits jumped by nearly $350 million, buoyed primarily on the full inclusion of Veritas revenue.