Symantec 2008 Annual Report Download - page 86

PART I
Item 1. Business
Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help
businesses and consumers secure and manage their information. We provide customers worldwide with software
and services that protect, manage and control information risks related to security, data protection, storage,
compliance, and systems management. We help our customers manage cost, complexity and compliance by
protecting their IT infrastructure as they seek to maximize value from their IT investments.
We deliver a comprehensive and diverse set of security and availability products and services to large
enterprises, governments, small and medium-sized businesses, and consumers on a worldwide basis. Our delivery
network includes direct, inside, and channel sales resources that support our ecosystem of more than 44,000
partners worldwide, as well as various relationships with original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, Internet
service providers, or ISPs, and retail and online stores. We operate in three geographic regions: Americas, which
includes United States, Canada, and Latin America; EMEA, which includes Europe, Middle East and Africa; and
Asia Pacific Japan (APJ).
We operate primarily in two growing, diversified markets within the software sector: the security market and
the storage software market. The security market includes products that protect consumers and enterprises from
threats to endpoint devices, computer networks, and electronic information. Over the past several years, we have
seen security threats continue to evolve from traditional viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other vulnerabilities,
and more recently from threats such as phishing (attacks that use spoofed websites and emails designed to record
keystrokes or to deceive recipients into divulging personal financial data), email fraud, and identity theft. We have
also seen security rise to a top priority for enterprises as information security is increasingly linked to regulatory
compliance. This evolution is a key driver of our research and development and acquisition strategies, as we strive to
differentiate our solutions from the competition and address our customers’ changing needs.
The storage software market includes products that manage, archive, protect, and recover business-critical
data. We believe that the security and storage software markets are converging as customers increasingly require our
help in mitigating their risk profiles and managing their storage solutions in order to secure and manage their most
valuable asset — their information. The worldwide storage software market consists of storage management, server
and application management, backup and archiving, and infrastructure software products and services. Key drivers
of demand in this market include the ever-increasing quantity of data being collected, the need for data to be
protected, recoverable, and accessible at all times, and the need for a growing number of critical applications to be
continuously available and highly performing.
Other factors driving demand in these markets include the increase in the number of Internet users, computing
devices, and companies conducting business online, the continuous automation of business processes, the on-going
desire of organizations to manage their overall IT risk, the increasing pressure on companies to lower storage and
server management costs while simultaneously increasing the utilization, availability levels, and performance of
their existing IT infrastructure, and the increasing importance of document retention and regulatory compliance
solutions.
In the ever-changing threat landscape and increasingly complex IT environment for consumers and enterprises
alike, we believe product differentiation will be the key to sustaining market leadership. Thus, we continually work
to enhance the features and functionality of our existing products, extend our product leadership, and create
innovative solutions for our customers. We focus on generating profitable and sustainable growth through internal
research and development, licensing from third parties, and acquisitions of companies with leading technologies.
Business Developments and Highlights
During fiscal 2008, we took the following actions to support our business:
• We developed and launched several new products and integrated new feature functionality into new versions
of products across our offerings. As a result, customers are leveraging our broader product portfolio to help
them secure and manage their critical asset — information. Some of the new offerings in our enterprise
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