Symantec is undergoing a transformation to better succeed in the “post-PC era,” according to Australia managing director, Brenton Smith.
Smith made the observation at the Symantec Symposium in Sydney, where he said the vendor had reorganised its portfolio around its leading point solutions.
Starting from this year, the company has already announced 10 new integrated offerings aimed at solving higher order and value problems at businesses.
“This will change the basis of competition in a way that is positive for us and delivers real value for our customers,” he said.
“We are also establishing strategic partnerships where we can integrate what we do with others to add even more value for customers. “
In addition to about 150 enterprise technical support staff in A/NZ, Smith said that the company will invest in a new Security Operations Centre in Sydney for the Symantec Managed Security Services group.
“We’re also looking to further expand our Symantec.cloud services in Australia by investing in more data centre infrastructure to meet growing business demand for secure, reliable and high-performance cloud services,” he said.
Interesting but disruptive
Smith attributes Symantec’s evolution as a response to the “Internet of Things,” or collecting data from anything and everything connected to a network.
“The Internet of Things is very interesting to us at Symantec, most importantly because it will have a dramatic impact on the way we all use technology,” he said,
Consumerisation of smart devices and data aggregation of connected devices are two major trends that Smith said could open end users up to risks.
In the drive to get products to market, devices and software are sometimes created with lax security features.
“The most interesting phase of the development of the Internet of Things could also be the most challenging and disruptive,” Smith said.
When it comes to data, Symantec's focus will be on protecting endpoints and data wherever it is, as well as educating the market on the benefits and risks of technology.
Patrick Budmar covers consumer and enterprise technology breaking news for IDG Communications. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_budmar.
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