New Symantec Product May Placate Critics

IT security giant Symantec(SYMC) hopes to silence at least some of its skeptics who question the company's acquisitions and the ability to integrate them.

At Vision, Symantec's annual customer conference, which starts June 12 in Las Vegas, the company plans to debut new software, code-named Hamlet.

Hamlet will pull together technologies from some of its purchases of the last two years -- WholeSecurity and Sygate -- merging components from antivirus, antispam, firewall and compliance-related acquisitions.

The product aims to make it easier for IT managers to control different security programs by using a centralized console.

Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec is hoping that Hamlet, with its technical innovations and pricing structure, will bolster revenue.

"It comes in a base product plus extensions that should allow us to drive a higher price point," CEO John Thompson told analysts during the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call.

"As customers take the base, that'll get a little bit more pricey; and as they add the extensions for network admission control and other things, that too, should drive incrementally higher prices," he said.

But selling Hamlet's value won't be easy, says Jon Oltsik, senior analyst with industry analyst firm Enterprise Strategy Group. Hamlet is targeted at small- and medium-sized businesses, many of which currently use the Symantec Antivirus Corporate Edition product.