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Symantec to Buy Veritas
jortega writes "Symantec is looking into buying Veritas for $13bn." The linked article is mostly about biz stuff. Seems like a kind of strange deal to me.
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The BBC and others are reporting that it's a done deal. In a merger deal valued at $13.5bn (£7bn) the all-share deal will see Symantec swap 1.1242 shares of common stock for each Veritas share.
This makes Symantec a one-stop shop for all things IT enterprise/security related: anti-virus, anti-spam, data recovery, network security, etc.
Who does Symantec think they are? Computer Associates?
This is probably a good thing. I sure as hell wouldn't install anything from Symantic without doing a backup first.
Is anyone sick of all the buyouts/mergers recently? AT&T/Cingular, Sprint/Verizon?
AT&T/Cingular made sense. Their networks are very similar.
Sprint is merging with Nextel, not Verizon. This makes less sense and they are looking to essentialy keep two seperate networks running.
what's a antivirus company want with a backup company?
What's the first thing you wonder when your network gets infected? When was the last time I backed up my data?
It's a perfect fit.
- AntiVirus
- Personal Firewalls
- AntiSpam
- SystemWorks
- LiveState Recovery, etc.
Buying Veritas gives them an improved Backup and Recovery offering than what they currently have.You sly dog: you got me monologuing! - Syndrome
We resell Veritas on every major server we build, and when I mentioned the aquisition this morning the comment from everyone was effectivly "I guess we will need to find new backup software to sell with our servers." It wasn't even a thought, we just don't want to deal with symantec.
I agree...
On Arrakis: early worm gets the bird. Magister mundi sum!
Microsoft has purchased an anti-spyware company, so in fact Microsoft might simultaneously be entering the security market to compete with Symantec. This news is fresh, and might be depressing the market's enthusiasm about Symantec/Veritas.
I know I would diversify if I were them. With predictions of new vulnerabilities being exploited within hours it seems like anti-virus software would be a risky business to be in right now. If a major organization got rooted via an exploit that their software didn't protect them from quickly enough they might try to sue Symantec for failing to provide adequate protection. I don't think such a case would be have much merit or be successful, but it would still cost money to defend against it. It might be a very savvy move to have another field to expand into if the market on AV got tight.
-- Gargonia
Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.
Or perhaps more accurately, Symantec is hedging their bets. With Microsoft likely to bundle anti-virus with their OS, it's wise to have something else to lean on should their bread and butter suddenly get a big bite taken out of it.
...Master of None.
Once, long ago, Peter Norton made some damn good tools for DOS. Then came their antivirus product, and it was pretty good, too.
Then came Symantec, and so far I'm not impressed with anything they've done. Have they done anything? Other than buy other companys' products and rebrand them?
All the cool stuff, like Ghost, Tools and AV, came from Norton. The Raptor/Velociraptor firewalls were purchased.
Veritas makes some good stuff. Unfortunately, I believe Symantec will fix that over time.
Mediocre seems to be their watchword.
-Charles
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
from the art:
...It would be somewhat surprising to see Veritas agree to an acquisition , given that the company's CEO Gary Bloom has long said he thinks Veritas can grow at a steady pace on its own. Veritas has acquired numerous companies over the past two years, trying to build out its server software portfolio....
Gary Bloom used to work for Oracle...he was the VP that oversaw Oracle's swallowing of e-travel so he knows exactly what he is up against. [disclosure...I was one of a small handful of SW engineers who escaped with some dot.com lucre when Oracle later disgorged e-travel.]
I would look at Symantec buying Veritas as a defensive move...EMC has moved into new markets aggressively and managing the security of all that data they already store/fetch would be logical. It would also seriously crimp a growth path that Symantec could take into the same market space from its position as a security provider.
Now, who can tell me if I should sell my VRTS?
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
I remember the good old days of "Tristep" - their old contract-to-hire company... When I asked what it stood for, I was told:
1 foot in the door
1 foot out the door
1 foot in your ass
Not sure who they're using now, but employees I've kept in touch with indicate that it's gotten more efficient: they wear cleats now.
*I am not the backup guy*
Oh, phrases, how I love thee.
One time, when I was the backup guy and I wasn't afraid to disclose my knowledge of backupexec, I became the *backup guy*. This damned me into restoring peoples resumes and digital pictures for the rest of my employment.
When he learns his lesson, he'll again become ignorant. For now, he probably just does it because it's an IT job and the pay is OK.
While you may disagree with my opinion, S&P downgraded the stock, and
other analysts do not like it as well - American Technology Research analyst Donovan Gow said the market's negative reaction reflects the stock market's puzzlement over why Symantec, a leader in the rapidly growing market for security software, is buying Veritas, whose sales have been rising at a much slower clip. here
Symantec is down 25% from monday. I'm not saying I'm right, but do a google and there are several sources that agree.
The world of Information Security has been turned on its ear in the past two years. Little - if any - corporate security measures are focused on methodology such as Threat Analysis or Risk Assessment. The brave new world is mandated compliance - with Sarbanes-Oxley taking the lead at publicly-traded corporations.
Symantec probably has their eye on the data-retention provisions of SOX and GLBA. This is their sales message - because CEO's get jail-time for SOX violations.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."