Some industry watchers may still question why Symantec moved to acquire storage software maker Veritas for $10.2 billion in 2004, but the fruits of the companies" combined labors are already proving the deal as a winner, according to executives with the massive security firm. As part of a recent media tour aimed at highlighting innovation ongoing within the security giant, Mark F. Bregman, CTO at Symantec, said that the Veritas merger has armed the company with a wealth of strategic opportunities.
While some industry and financial analysts have wondered aloud when Symantec would begin marketing technologies that were borne as a result of the two companies" merger -- the types of products that Symantec Chief Executive John Thompson touted at the time the deal was announced -- Bregman and Stephen Trilling, vice president of research and advanced development at the firm, said that jointly-developed tools are already in customers" hands. The executives said the best example of technologies made possible by the marriage of the vendors isn"t a standalone point product as some observers might have expected but instead an application that helps Symantec"s existing antivirus products ward off sophisticated rootkit attacks.