Symantec announced Monday that it plans to acquire IT management software company Altiris, in a deal valued at about US$830 million.
Altiris, based in Lindon, Utah, develops software designed to manage and configure corporate assets, such as laptops, mobile devices and servers, in order to reduce their cost and complexity.
"The most secure end point is a well-managed end point," John Thompson, Symantec's chief executive, said in a statement. "The best protection must be complemented by the ability to remediate and address vulnerabilities that could be exploited."
The deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter, aims to bolster Symantec's end-point offerings for mobile devices, laptops, desktops and servers.
Symantec has been snapping up companies over the last few years to expand beyond security and into business management software. Some of its recent deals have included BindView, for its compliance offerings, and Relicore, a data automation software maker.
Commenting on the news, Michael Warrilow, director of analyst company Hydrasight, said in a research note: "Symantec has been looking to enterprise growth yet falling short. At present, it is a large, unwieldy and unintegrated purveyor of enterprise software utilities looking to demonstrate growth to Wall Street rather than integrated value to its customers.
"Altiris has been well-regarded generally, with several large enterprise clients in the Asia Pacific region. Symantec will be best to leave Altiris alone for the time being," he added.
ZDNet Asia's Isabelle Chan contributed to this report.
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