SaaS, not shopping, is focus of Symantec's new CEO

25.06.2009

Salem: Improved archiving, so you don't have to archive everything locally. End-point management, end-point security, data loss prevention, there's a whole range of stuff.

IDGNS: How is it going to roll out?

Salem: Today we have messaging security, we have Web security, we're upgrading our archiving capabilities. We will add the end-point security, centrally managed, which I think is a big deal. What's important is that our customers are in a situation where they don't have to worry. They don't want to run it themselves. They'll say, "Symantec, you do it."

Think about this too. This is applicable not only to your traditional things. We deal with hospitals that are taking CAT [Computerized Axial Tomography] scans. These CAT scans are multilayered; they're gigabytes in size. They have patient records that need to be secured and managed. So why not do that as a service?

IDGNS: There are a number of reasons why people might not want to move into SaaS. What do you see as the biggest barrier?