Symantec 2004 Annual Report Download - page 25

SYMANTEC CORPORATION «23»
In the enterprise security and administration markets, we compete
against many companies who offer competing products to our
technology solutions and competing services to our response and
support. In the area of antivirus and filtering products, some of
the companies we compete against are Computer Associates,
McAfee (formerly Network Associates), Sophos, Trend Micro, and
Websense. In addition, Microsoft has announced its intent to
offer Service Pack 2, which checks for active and current antivirus
software on desktops and refers the user to software vendors. In
the area of firewall and VPN, some of the companies we compete
against are Check Point Software, Cisco, Juniper, SonicWALL
and WatchGuard. In the area of intrusion detection and security
management, some of the companies we compete against are
BindView, Internet Security Systems, NetIQ and TippingPoint. In
the areas of remote management, imaging provisioning, backup,
recovery and asset management, some of the companies
we compete against are Altiris, Laplink, Marimba and Veritas. In
addition, we face indirect or potential competition
from operating
system providers and network equipment and computer hard-
ware manufacturers, who provide or may provide various security
solutions and functions in their current and future products. These
competitors have significant advantages due to their ability
to influence or control the computing platforms, security layers
and network tiers on, or in, which security products operate. In
addition, these competitors generally have significantly greater
financial, marketing or technological resources than we do. We
believe that our ability to compete in the enterprise security and
administration markets going forward depends in part on providing
simplified, solution-oriented offerings that address multiple aspects
of enterprise security.
Some of the companies that offer competing products to our
Consumer Products offerings include Check Point Software, Internet
Security Systems, Kroll, McAfee (formerly Network Associates),
Norman, Panda and Trend Micro. With the recent outbreaks
of viruses and other Internet-based security threats, several other
companies have entered the market and may become significant
competitors in the future.
Our Enterprise Security Services compete with companies such as
Counterpane, IBM, Internet Security Systems, Ubizen and VeriSign.
Price competition is intense with most of our products and
services. We expect price competition to continue to increase
and become even more significant in the future, which may
reduce our profit margins.
We also face competition from a number of other products that
offer levels of functionality different from those offered by our
products, or that were designed for a somewhat different group
of end-users than those targeted by us. Microsoft has added
security features to new versions of its operating system products
that provide some of the same functions offered in our products.
Microsoft’s acquisition of GeCad’s antivirus technology could lead
it to include antivirus functions in future versions of its operating
system products. In addition, vendors of other operating systems,
such as Red Hat®Linux, Solaris and Unix-based operating systems,
may also incorporate some of the advanced utilities or other
functionality offered in our products. While we plan to continue
to improve our products with a view toward providing enhanced
functionality over that provided in current and future operating
systems, these efforts may be unsuccessful and any improved
products may not be commercially accepted by users. We will
also continue to attempt to cooperate with operating system
vendors to make our products compatible with those operating
systems, while at the same time, differentiating our utility products
from features included in those operating systems. Our efforts
in this regard may be unsuccessful.
The demand for some of our products, including those currently
under development, may decrease if, among other reasons:
•Microsoft includes additional product features in future
releases of Windows;
•Hardware vendors, including Cisco, incorporate additional
server-based network management and security tools into
network operating systems;
•Microsoft, network equipment or computer hardware
manufacturers license, develop or acquire technology
or products that provide functionality directly competitive
with our product and service offerings.
In addition, we compete with other computer software companies,
operating system providers and network equipment and computer
hardware manufacturers for access to retail distribution channels
and for the attention of customers at the retail level and in corporate
accounts. We also compete with other software companies,
operating system providers and network equipment and computer
hardware manufacturers to acquire products or companies and
to publish software developed by third parties.
2004 Annual Report