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Symantec Is Not Sweating Microsoft's Vista

Katie Dean

SAN FRANCISCO -- Symantec (SYMC Quote) CEO John Thompson kicked off the company's annual SymantecVision 2006 conference on Monday touting the importance of protecting customer data-center operations -- and talking tough about Microsoft (MSFT Quote).

The Redmond, Wash.-based company's Vista incorporates more security features and is scheduled to launch in January 2007.

Thompson said Symantec can help businesses build a trusted and secure environment so they can grow their businesses instead of worrying about security problems.

The company can also help with data protection for messaging and IT policy compliance, noting that email can contain intellectual property, and that companies in some industries must retain such data in order to comply with regulatory requirements like Sarbanes-Oxley, among others.

In a press conference with analysts and the media following the keynote, Thompson said that Symantec will "out-innovate" Microsoft, and said "we know more about security than they ever will."

Symantec protects more people from more online threats than any other company in the world, he said, and it will use the strength of its global brand and leverage marketing to fend off the software giant.

The "Microsoft brand is synonymous with a lot of things," Thompson said. "Security is not one of them."

Thompson also said that Microsoft's presence in the market will do more to raise awareness of security threats, and that all companies in the sector should benefit from that. He said it's not "a foregone conclusion that they will win -- quite to the contrary."

Earlier on Monday the Yankee Group released a report concluding that although the release of Vista will affect some smaller, third-party software vendors, Vista's launch will not quash the larger players like Symantec.

Still, one analyst at the conference said Thompson was overestimating the impact of marketing and branding initiatives vs. the Microsoft challenge. "There's no hard, concrete substance behind that," said Graham Titterington, an industry analyst with Ovum in London.

He said Microsoft will accelerate Symantec's move toward the enterprise, and noted that with the acquisition of Veritas, the company seems to be repositioning itself beyond just traditional security products.

Thompson also addressed the company's clash with the Internal Revenue Service about $1 billion in back taxes related to the Veritas deal.

He called the situation "an open dispute with the IRS," and added that "we are running the business assuming that will go away."

Titterington predicted that Symantec will announce a partnership in the identity and access-management area, where Symantec is lacking. (Titterington and his company are independent and do not have a financial relationship with Symantec or Microsoft.)

Shares of the security firm closed down 2.1%, or 38 cents, to $17.38. It gained a penny after-hours. Symantec will post its fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell.