Symantec 2008 Annual Report Download - page 92

Symantec embraces a global R&D strategy with teams of engineers worldwide focused on product devel-
opment, pure research and on tailoring our products to meet regional requirements. Conducting R&D close to our
customers ensures that we have intimate knowledge of the markets we serve and a better link between our customers
and our labs. Symantec strives to maintain long-term technological leadership by nurturing innovation, generating
new ideas and developing next-generation technologies across all of our business.
Symantec Research Labs is a group designed to foster new technologies and products to help us maintain
leadership in existing markets. The team focuses on short, medium, and long-term applied research, develops new
products in emerging areas, participates in government-funded research projects, and partners with universities to
conduct research to support Symantec’s needs.
Our Security Response experts, located at research centers throughout the world, are focused on collecting and
analyzing the latest malware threats, ranging from network security threats and vulnerabilities to viruses and
worms. All this data is collected through our Symantec Global Intelligence Network, which provides insight into
emerging trends in attacks, malicious code activity, phishing, spam, and other threats. The Security Response team
is also focused on developing new technologies and approaches to protecting customers’ information and systems.
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.
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, products and companies in the
future.
During fiscal 2008, we completed the following acquisitions:
Company Name Company Description Date Acquired
Altiris Inc. A provider of information technology
management software that enables businesses to
easily manage and service network-based
endpoints.
April 6, 2007
Vontu, Inc. A provider of Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
solutions that assist organizations in preventing
the loss of confidential or proprietary
information.
November 30, 2007
Transparent Logic Technologies, Inc. A provider of products that support business
process automation and workflow.
January 11, 2008
In addition, on April 18, 2008, we acquired AppStream Inc., a provider of application streaming technology, an
on-demand delivery mechanism that leverages the power of application virtualization to enable greater flexibility
and control.
For further discussion of our acquisitions, see Notes 4 and 20 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial
Statements in this annual report.
Competition
Our markets are consolidating, are highly competitive, and are subject to rapid changes in technology. We are
focused on integrating next generation technology capabilities into our solution set in order to differentiate
ourselves from the competition. We believe that the principal competitive factors necessary to be successful in our
industry also include, time to market, price, reputation, financial stability, breadth of product offerings, customer
support, brand recognition, and effective sales and marketing efforts.
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