Symantec to Split Into Two Companies
Businesses Will Focus on Security, Information ManagementInformation security vendor Symantec Corp. announced Oct. 9 that it will spin off its information management business into a separate publicly traded company.
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"As the security and storage industries continue to change at an accelerating pace, Symantec's security and information management businesses each face unique market opportunities and challenges," says Michael Brown, Symantec's president and CEO. "It has become clear that winning in both security and information management requires distinct strategies, focused investments and go-to market innovation."
Symantec expects to complete the spinoff by the end of 2015. The information management business generated $2.5 billion in revenue in fiscal 2014, compared with $4.2 billion for the security business.
Back in May, Symantec said it was taking a new approach to advanced threat protection by revamping its security offerings in an effort to enable quicker detection and response to security incidents (see: Symantec Revamps Security Offerings).
Security Strategy
Symantec's security business, which will continue to be publicly traded and retain the corporate name, will offer consumer and enterprise endpoint security; endpoint management; encryption; mobile security; secure socket layer certificates; user authentication; mail, Web and data center security; data loss prevention; hosted security; and managed services.
Brown will continue to head the security business as president and CEO.
Symantec's security strategy includes three elements:
- Deliver a unified security platform that integrates threat information;
- Grow its cybersecurity service capabilities across managed security, incident response, threat adversary intelligence and simulation-based training for security professionals;
- Simplify and integrate its security products portfolio.
Information Management Business
The new information management business, which has yet to be named, will focus on three areas:
- Provide resilient, reliable foundational products to support customers' information management strategies;
- Deliver solutions that reduce the total cost of ownership of storing, managing and deriving insights and business value from information;
- Enable visibility, management and control across an organization's entire information landscape through an intelligent information fabric layer that integrates with its portfolio and third-party ecosystems.
John Gannon will be general manager of the new information management business. Before joining Symantec in 2012, he served as president and chief operating officer of Quantum, a data center and storage solution company.