Symantec 2006 Annual Report Download - page 18

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security updates for our security products. To simplify and speed up the delivery of security updates for our
product offerings at the server, gateway, and desktop levels, we use our LiveUpdate technology.
Outside of our Security Response research centers, other major research and development initiatives for
storage and availability products include:
‚ Continued focus on operating system platform expansion
‚ Development of new infrastructure products, including server provisioning, clustering, application
performance management, and service level management
‚ Initiatives to improve replication, storage resource management, and next generation virtualization
technology
‚ Development of new data protection technologies for disk-based data protection
‚ Continued efforts to ensure regulatory compliance and enhanced disaster recovery
Symantec Research Labs, or SRL, is a division within our company designed to foster new technologies
and products to help us maintain leadership in existing markets. A key component of the SRL is our
Advanced Concepts group, which is focused on identifying new markets and quickly transforming ideas into
products for those markets.
Independent contractors are used for various aspects of the product development process. In addition,
elements of some of our products are licensed from third parties.
We had research and development expenses, exclusive of in-process research and development associated
with acquisitions, of $665 million in fiscal 2006, $332 million in fiscal 2005, and $252 million in fiscal 2004.
We believe that technical leadership is essential to our success and we expect to continue to commit
substantial resources to research and development.
Acquisitions
Our strategic technology acquisitions are designed to enhance the features and functionality of our
existing products, as well as extend our product leadership. We use strategic acquisitions to provide certain
technology, people, and products for our overall product and services strategy. We consider both time to
market and potential market share gains when evaluating acquisitions of technologies, product lines, or
companies. We have completed a number of acquisitions of technologies, companies, and products in the past,
and we have also disposed of technologies and products. We may acquire and/or dispose of other technologies,
companies, and products in the future.
During fiscal 2006, we completed the acquisition of Veritas, as well as acquisitions of the following six
other companies:
XtreamLok XtreamLok Pty Limited, acquired in May 2005, gives Symantec
strong anti-piracy and activation technology backed by an exper-
ienced and dedicated team that has successfully worked with
Symantec for several years.
WholeSecurity WholeSecurity, Inc., a leading provider of behavior-based security
acquired in October 2005, provides a first line of defense against
emerging threats without the need for traditional security signa-
tures. WholeSecurity provides protection from phishing attacks,
one of the fastest growing threats to online transactions, such as
banking, e-commerce, and auctions. WholeSecurity's behavior-
based security technology is being integrated as a core component
of Symantec's consumer and enterprise desktop security solutions.
Sygate Sygate Technologies, Inc., the market leader in network access
control solutions for large enterprises, was acquired in October
12