By Melanie Turek, Principal Research Analyst, Nemertes Research

December 17, 2004

The merger between Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) and Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) makes sense on a number of levels, all of which combine to deliver a solution around information stewardship: end-to-end protection against viruses and other threats; compliance solutions (Veritas’ recently acquired compliance vendor KVS); and the ability to support the virtual workplace.

The deal will combine Symantec’s security products with Veritas’ data-storage software; the new company, which will retain the Symantec name, will offer products covering everything from the PC to the data center.

As noted, this deal highlights the emerging momentum toward information stewardship, the process of ensuring end-to end data protection and privacy, which Nemertes recognizes as a key issue for 2005 and beyond. Maintaining the security of corporate data is no longer simply a matter of building a hard perimeter around the data center: most end-users will be outside the perimeter. Data-center security depends on all three components of the application delivery—the servers, the desktops/laptops/PDAs, and the WAN transport in-between.

The complete Impact Analysis is available to Nemertes clients. For more information, please contact Chris Zimmerman at christine@nemertes.com