CEO Explains Symantec's Plan to Survive Recession

Enrique Salem, who this week took the reigns of Symantec Corp., spoke to a packed hall at Storage Networking World about his company's plans to focus on technologies like thin provisioning and data deduplication, which can help companies better utilize the assets they have in order to stave off purchasing more hardware. Computerworld Editor-in-Chief Scot Finnie and Storage Editor Lucas Mearian sat down with CEO Salem at SNW to ask him about his vision for Symantec, what IT security threats may lie ahead and how the recession is affecting the high tech industry.

By Scot Finnie and Lucas Mearian

Wed, April 08, 2009Computerworld Enrique Salem, who this week took the reigns of Symantec Corp., spoke to a packed hall at Storage Networking World about his company's plans to focus on technologies like thin provisioning and data deduplication, which can help companies better utilize the assets they have in order to stave off purchasing more hardware. Computerworld Editor-in-Chief Scot Finnie and Storage Editor Lucas Mearian sat down with CEO Salem at SNW to ask him about his vision for Symantec, what IT security threats may lie ahead and how the recession is affecting the high tech industry.

How is the economy affecting demand for security products and services? How are enterprise customers prioritizing their security spending in this economic climate? Security is something you need all the time, independent of the economic environment. We found people continue to buy security because they need to protect their information. So we think security continues to do well or better than other sectors in tech spending. What we're hearing about budgets, though, is that they're going to be flat to down in this fiscal year, but we do think security will be more resilient.

Does that make your business or parts of it recession proof?I don't want to go that far, but I will say that security will absolutely do better in a recession.

What do you see as the most important trends in IT this year? Virtualization continues to be a hot topic. I know we've been talking about virtualization for several years, but it's not just server virtualization but it's also storage virtualization, [and] end-point virtualization because you can drive real efficiencies. Another trend is software as a service. We absolutely believe that people are going to think about their core competencies. What are the things they have to be good at and what can they allow other third parties to take advantage of. We expect at Symantec that 20% of our business over the next five yearswill be delivered as a service.

Another important trend we see is something we refer to as the consumerization of IT. The workforce is changing and the people coming to work every day are bringing new devices. I think IT has to start thinking about how to embrace these new technologies. Everything from your iPhone to social networking technologies that I think will start changing what we do inside of organizations.

What are Symantec's biggest enterprise challenges over the next year or so? Symantec has grown through acquisitions. We went from being a $600 million company in 1999 to a $6 billion company today and we've done that through about 30 acquisitions. What we need to do is continue to drive the integration of those technologies because our customers don't want point products. They want integrated security suites. We need to do a better job of continuing to integrate our technologies.

Symantec

Loading...
Data Center MarketSpace
From Chaos to Order-Winning the Information Management Game
Learn how Oracle Application Express delivers an easy, fast, and free way to manage your business information. Learn more »
Optimizing Information Insight
This paper will argue that the key to enabling midsize organizations to make even better business decisions is by simplifying the extraction of specific, actionable information from large volumes of data. Learn more »
Looking for a fast payback?
Learn how you can boost ROI and productivity with a JDE technology refresh. Learn more »
3 Minutes with Free Tool Can Save Thousands!
See how you can improve decision-making while reducing your total cost of ownership through process efficiencies and technology simplification. Learn more »
Informatica 9: What it means for the CIO?
Hear from Informatica's CIO on how Informatica 9 will improve... Learn more »
Lower Costs with New Servers and Consolidation
When it comes to server technology staying the course will cost you. Lower costs and create an efficient datacenter with newer server technology. Learn more »
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

White Paper: Right-Sizing Your Power Infrastructure

Lower IT Costs with Oracle Database 11g Release 2

New technology that addresses challenges organizations are facing.

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back

Cut Costs & Green Your IT Operations with PC Power Management

White Paper: 4 Customer Service Myths

White Paper: Managed Security for a Not-So-Secure World

White Paper: 5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support

Global Research: CIOs Weigh In On Virtualization

5 Key Virtualization Management Challenges

Secure Email and Web-Based Communication from Evolving Attacks

WagerWorks Takes Fraudsters Out of the Game using iovation

Seven Design Requirements for Web 2.0 Threat Protection

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

Learn how advanced forecasting tools can deliver significant business results for global corporations.

Achieving Business Agility with Application Grid

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Tips for successful virtualization management.

AT&T Synaptic Storage as a Service. Expand on demand

Trend Micro ranked #1 against real-world malware. Read more.

Webinar: Jump-start your in-house e-discovery with Ringtail QuickCull from FTI Technology

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

State of the Data Integration Market

Server Consolidation: Leveraging the Benefits of Virtualization

Upgrading to VMware vSphere with vWire

Maximizing website Return on Information with high-quality search

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Webcast: Unleashing the Power of Customer Data

White Paper: Improve Agility with Operational Responsiveness

White Paper: Legacy Tools: Not Built for the Helpdesk

Taking a Seat at the Executive Table: The Reality of Virtualization

White Paper: Next Generation Remote Infrastructure Management

Keeping Your Members Safe from Online Scams and Predators

The Total Economic Impact of Network Security Intrusion Prevention

Generation Remote Infrastructure Management - Changing the Paradigm

Cloud-Based Email Management: Opinion Shifts In Favor

eBook: How Can You Make Your People Productive Anywhere?

White Paper: Visibility and the New Normal of Mobile Work

Taking the Service Desk to the Next Level

Learn about The Information Technology Infrastructure Library.

Return on Information: Google Enterprise Search pays you back. Get the facts.

VMware. The source for Business Infrastructure Virtualization.

ShoreTel tells businesses to untangle from competitors' complexity and turn to its brilliantly simple UC solution

Top Five CIO Challenges

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

 
 
RESOURCE CENTER