Symantec 2001 Annual Report Download - page 16

business overview
In fiscal 2001, we added key technologies by acquiring AXENT
Technologies, Inc. This acquisition will enable us to:
•provide enterprise customers with comprehensive security
solutions;
•combine service offerings to provide a broader range of security
services and consulting; and
•accelerate new product development with one of the largest teams
of enterprise security professionals in the industry.
We currently view our business in five operating segments: Consumer
Products, Enterprise Security, Enterprise Administration, Services and
Other.
Consumer Products Our Consumer Products segment provides
solutions to individual users, home offices and small businesses. The
segment’s charter is to ensure that consumers and their information
are secure and protected in a connected world. Most of the products
that we are currently marketing or developing feature LiveUpdate.
This feature enables users to subscribe to easily downloadable content
updates including virus definitions, firewall rules, URL databases and
uninstall scripts. Our consumer products run primarily on Windows
and Macintosh operating systems. Symantec AntiVirus also runs on
Palm OS.
Norton AntiVirus runs in a computer’s background and protects
against, detects and eliminates computer viruses. This software covers
multiple sources of infection, including the Internet, e-mail attachments,
floppy disks, shared files and networks. Norton AntiVirus keeps virus
definitions up to date. Automatic LiveUpdate detects new definitions
created by Symantec AntiVirus Research Center and downloads and
installs those definitions on the user's computer, eliminating the need
for users to manually update virus definitions. Symantec AntiVirus
Research Center provides 24 hours a day, seven days a week research
and analysis capability to ensure that customers have the highest level
of protection available.
Norton Internet Securityis a fully integrated suite that provides total
Internet protection for the home computer. The suite includes Norton
AntiVirus, Norton Personal Firewall, and Norton Privacy Control. The
Family Edition of Norton Internet Security includes Norton Parental
Control. Norton AntiVirus stops viruses, malicious Java applets and
ActiveX controls. Norton Personal Firewall prevents hackers from
accessing the computer’s files or using the computer in other Internet-
based attacks. Norton Internet Security also helps restrict user access to
specified Web sites and restricts the submission of personal informa-
tion through Web forms without the user’s approvals (Family Edition
only). The users of Norton Internet Security also can block banner ads.
Norton SystemWorks is a fully integrated suite of problem-solving
utilities that protects PC users from viruses and crashes, solves
Windows problems, removes unneeded files, and updates users’
applications. Included in this suite are the latest complete versions
of our products: Norton AntiVirus, Norton Utilities, and Norton
CleanSweep. Also included are Internet-based services such as Norton
Web Services, provided by CNET and Symantec Web Partners.
Enterprise Security The objective of our Enterprise Security segment
is to provide organizations with technology, services and response
capabilities to deal with their specific security needs. In addition to
our virus protection and filtering products, we have expanded our
technology offerings to include intrusion detection, vulnerability
management, web access management, and firewalls/VPN protection.
We have also expanded our solutions to multiple platforms and to all
levels of the enterprise network: gateways, servers and clients (desktop
PCs, laptops, mobile devices, and PDAs). At the gateway level, our
products run on Windows NT, Solaris, and Linux platforms. Our
products at the server level operate on Windows NT, UNIX, Linux,
and other key server platforms.At the end user level, our products
run on the Windows platform.
Virus Protection and Filtering
Our virus protection and filtering technology is a core element of
Internet security that combines multi-tier protection against viruses
with the management of Internet communications for sensitive content
or misuse of data. Users of our virus protection and filtering products
are able to take action to protect their enterprise from risks associated
with using Internet resources. This includes scanning or monitoring
data that enters, leaves or travels inside the organization, as well as
detecting and eliminating malicious code that may be introduced into
a company’s network. Our virus protection and e-mail and Internet
content filtering technologies protect gateways, servers and clients at
multiple entry points from known and unknown threats. Protection
from virus attacks is the most well-known and largest market
component of the enterprise security area.
Symantec AntiVirus provides virus protection for computers running
in every tier of an enterprise’s network, including Internet gateways,
desktops, file and print servers, mail servers and firewalls. Symantec
AntiVirus also enables corporations to keep their virus definitions up
to date via LiveUpdate.
CarrierScan Server enables companies to tightly integrate anti-virus
scanning and repair capabilities into services such as Web-based e-mail,
Web-based file sharing, Internet-available databases and other applica-
tions that deliver files over the Internet. CarrierScan Server can be
deployed on one or more servers inside a company’s infrastructure.
Firewalls/ VPN
We offer firewall solutions from the gateway to end devices. Firewalls
are not only installed at the Internet gateways, but desktop firewalls also
are installed at clients as well as internal firewalls around key servers.
Symantec Desktop Firewallenables administrators to quickly roll out
a highly effective solution that works intelligently in the background,
monitoring both inbound and outbound communications. Since
Symantec Desktop Firewall is optimized for always-on broadband
connections such as DSL and cable modems that are favored by mobile
users, it is a highly effective solution for securing remote communica tions.
symantec 2001__14