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An ambitious Symantec has been beefing up its security prowess and expanding its offerings through acquisitions.
The Symantec-Veritas merger announced in December 2004 was one of the biggest software acquisitions in history. Within days after Symantec added the storage specialist to its security offerings in a deal worth US$13.5 billion, Chief Executive Officer John Thompson announced its buying spree was set to continue.
True to its words, Symantec picked up anti-piracy and software licensing company XtreamLok in May, security compliance specialist Sygate in August and antiphishing firm WholeSecurity in September. Its latest acquisition, Bindview, is a player in security compliance. Prior to the Symantec-Veritas mega-merger, Symantec also acquired a string of companies, including Brightmail, ON Technology and SafeWeb.
The security vendor has, from time to time, been in the spotlight for flaws in its antivirus software, including its flagship product Norton AntiVirus. Flaws in the backup software under the Veritas brand have similarly been highlighted.
But that hasn't stopped Symantec from consistently posting strong financials. Its revenue jumped from US$1.1 billion in 2002 to US$2.6 billion in 2005, while its average net income growth over the last four years is 360 percent.
Symantec's strong performance, though, could be challenged by impending contender Microsoft, which has announced a beta version of its business security software product to be released at the end of the year. While it is still early days to tell how Symantec will hold up against this threat, the company is not planning to sit and wait for competition to worm in. Symantec is looking to capitalize on the new technologies made available by its merger with Veritas, such as Web-based backup systems. It has also partnered Nokia in the area of mobile security.
This company is listed in
Storage Management, Security, Services.
Financials
| Fiscal year-end July |
FY05 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY02 |
FY01 |
Global full-year
revenue (US$millions) |
2,600.0 |
1,900.0 |
1,400.0 |
1,100.0 |
— |
Global full-year net
income (US$millions) |
536.0 |
370.0 |
248.0 |
-28.0 |
— |
| Average year-on-year revenue growth over 4 years |
33.3 % |
| Average year-on-year net income growth over 4 years |
359.9 % |
| Percentage of revenue from Asia |
14.0 % |
| Percentage of Asian revenues from channel |
— |
Operations:
| Founded |
United States/1982 |
| First Asian office |
Singapore/1992 |
| Global employees |
14,000 |
| Employees in Asia |
2,700 |
Asian countries:
Total 9 |
China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand |
| Notes |
Symantec employs 2,700 staff in Asia including Japan and Korea.
* Data correct as at September 2005. Information was compiled by ZDNet Asia from sources such as official reports, corporate Web sites, and Hoover's. ZDNet Asia strived to get the latest information but does not guarantee the correctness or completeness of the data. The information provided on this site is for general informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or sell any securities. |
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Systems | Networking and communications | Storage management | Security | Software Infrastructure | Services | Business applications | Internet services
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