"Both companies did licensing just slightly different. Previous customers with Backup Exec didn't have to register and tell us where the product was being used and identify technical contacts," he said. To address the issue, Symantec has been meting out the number of new license notifications for Veritas software customers -- about 20,000 at a time.

"We're dealing with hundreds of thousands of users here that need to get licensing keys and register," Thompson said. "We'll have all those batches sent out to clients by mid-February. If a client wanted to see one earlier, we could probably facilitate that one client receiving it earlier."

Ladewig said he was told by Symantec tech support that because the company decided to merge the Symantec and Veritas licensing programs at the same time it was launching a major upgrade to its SMB backup software, Backup Exec, there are thousands of upgrade invitations on hold.

Symantec posted a message on its new software licensing portal telling customers that due to a high volume of inquiries, it will take five to seven business days to respond to requests.

Thompson said Symantec weighed deploying Backup Exec 11d with wanting their customers to experience the benefits of seeing a combined licensing portal, its new software buying programs and the ability to interact with Symantec and Veritas as one company.