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New Symantec Endpoint Security Solution Now Available


WEBWIRE

Beta customers experience significant cost-savings and increased security with new integrated offering

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) raised the bar today for enterprise security by announcing the global availability of Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 and Symantec Network Access Control 11.0. Symantec Endpoint Protection integrates Symantec AntiVirus with advanced threat prevention in a single agent managed through a single console, delivering unmatched defense against malware and data loss for laptops, desktops and servers.

Today Symantec also released results from a third-party study of Symantec Endpoint Protection beta customers quantifying the operational efficiencies gained through the integrated, single agent endpoint security solution. The study, which was conducted by the Alchemy Group in August and September, highlights Symantec Endpoint Protection’s ability to significantly reduce the cost and complexity of securing endpoints in diverse business environments.

Highlights of the summary include:

* The ability to manage IT security operations from Symantec Endpoint Protection’s single management console has the potential to reduce the number of current management hours by an average of 75 percent. One customer expects to save 97 percent of the hours dedicated to weekly security related reporting.
* Symantec Endpoint Protection’s Application Control functionality, which can limit access to only approved applications at the endpoint, can be a key enabler in reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency. Network outages caused by unauthorized peer-to-peer applications are costing one customer more than two million dollars annually.

“Symantec has once again redefined the enterprise security market to address evolving business needs and the changing threat landscape,” said Brad Kingsbury, vice president of endpoint security, Symantec. “Symantec has integrated state-of-the-art security technologies, including our unique behavioral-based intrusion prevention technology and our award-winning Network Access Control product, in a way that simplifies management and provides better security. By combining endpoint protection and endpoint compliance, this comprehensive solution can help customers secure critical assets, comply with regulatory mandates and protect information.”

Symantec Endpoint Protection provides customers the security technologies required to protect their endpoint environments against today’s threats while reducing the overall memory footprint to new industry lows. When running in an idle state, Symantec Endpoint Protection introduces a reduced memory footprint of only 24 MB. This is a dramatic decrease compared to competing endpoint security offerings.

Early Customer Feedback

More than 10,000 individuals participated in the public beta program for Symantec Endpoint Protection, providing extensive feedback to assist in the final product, services and support that are offered today. The customers participating in Symantec’s managed beta program provided their feedback:

CIGNA

CIGNA provides insurance and administers employee health benefit plans covering 47 million people worldwide. CIGNA relies on a multi-layer information security architecture to protect its customers’ sensitive health and financial data, while also making the data more widely available to authorized users. A longtime Symantec security customer, CIGNA participated in the Symantec Endpoint Protection beta program.

“CIGNA’s IT team is tasked with protecting more than 30,000 desktop and laptop machines across our network environment to ensure the integrity of our critical customer data. Staying ahead of emerging security threats and preventing information loss calls for a continued security diligence and we aim to stay at the forefront,” said John Shepard, CIGNA. “The integrated technology in Symantec Endpoint Protection is designed to help us address malware attacks, harden our systems and maintain endpoint compliance supporting our enforcement of security policies on client and server machines that hold confidential information.”

Johnson Controls

Ranking 67th on Fortune Magazine’s 2007 List of America’s Largest Companies, Johnson Controls, Inc. is a global leader in automotive experience, building efficiency and power solutions. The company’s 140,000 employees are based in 75 locations around the world, serving customers in 125 countries. Approximately half are knowledge workers armed with PCs and laptops regularly accessing the corporate network, so endpoint protection is critical.

“After deploying the beta version of Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 to a limited target group, we were very impressed with how all the security tools have been effectively integrated into the product. The beta version was easy to deploy and the integrated console greatly simplifies management,” said Prak Bhagwanjee, director of corporate IT security, Johnson Controls, Inc. “We do not have to sacrifice any functionality with the improved operational efficiency and much smaller footprint.”

Touchstone Behaviorial Health

Touchstone Behavioral Health provides behavioral health services to at-risk children and their families throughout the state of Arizona. HIPAA mandates that Touchstone’s patient records remain confidential and accessible only to authorized Touchstone personnel and the company must maintain a secure infrastructure, while maximizing the efficiency of its four-person IT team. Touchstone participated in the Symantec Endpoint Protection beta program, deploying the software across 30 PCs and laptops and two servers.

“The centralized management console, improved behavior tracking and location awareness features in Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 help improve the efficiency of our small IT staff,” he said Steven Porter, director of IT, Touchstone Behavioral Health. “From a HIPAA compliance standpoint, the time-savings we’ve already realized by participating in the beta program are significant. Previously, we spent ten hours a week on compliance monitoring and reporting. With Symantec Endpoint Protection, we can take a snapshot each day, and only spend half-hour each week to produce more accurate compliance reports.”

Symantec Endpoint Protection is the only product that offers the benefit of essential security technologies (antivirus, antispyware, desktop firewall, intrusion prevention, device control and application control) via a single integrated agent and administered from a single management console. Symantec Endpoint Protection features the new simplified management console, Network Access Control (NAC) enablement out of the box, and a range of training and support offerings to speed implementation for partners and customers.

For more information on the new features in Symantec Endpoint Protection, please visit: http://www.symantec.com/about/news/release/article.jsp?prid=20070613_01.

New Tools and Services to Guide Migration and Maximize Product Investments

Symantec Endpoint Protection and Symantec Network Access Control serve a wide range of customers – from small businesses with no IT departments to global enterprises with thousands of endpoints to manage. Since each customer environment is unique, Symantec has developed a number of new tools and outsourced services to guide customers through product migration, new product deployment, operations and management for endpoint security.

Symantec will also provide customers with access to additional endpoint remediation and control capabilities to accelerate and enrich the benefits of Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0. The new Symantec Endpoint Protection Integration Component is a free tool that integrates Symantec Endpoint Protection with the Altiris management platform to help Symantec customers streamline rollouts, facilitate migration from competitive products and secure endpoint configurations. Integrated Symantec endpoint security and management technologies provide Symantec protected systems with closed-loop remediation to help increase client availability and data security, and reduce IT ownership costs.

Licensing and Availability

Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 and Symantec Network Access Control 11.0 are available now and can be purchased directly or through Symantec’s worldwide network of value-added authorized resellers, distributors and systems integrators. Current customers of Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition, Symantec Client Security, Symantec Sygate Enterprise Protection and Confidence Online for Corporate PCs (Whole Security) with valid maintenance contracts are eligible for a free upgrade to Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0. In addition, current customers of Symantec Network Access Control with valid maintenance contracts are eligible for a free upgrade to Symantec Network Access Control 11.0.

The Symantec Endpoint Protection Integration Component is scheduled to be available soon after the release of Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0 at no additional charge to Symantec customers. For more information on these products, visit: www.symantec.com/endpointsecurity.



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