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Symantec Norton Everywhere Aims Beyond PCs

Symantec Thursday announced its new Norton Everywhere initiative to extend security, backup, and infrastructure-related software beyond PCs to a variety of consumer devices, from iPhones and Android devices to media hubs.

"We are entering a new era where non-PC devices are exploding in numbers, which means more opportunity for cybercriminals," said Janice Chaffin, president of Symantec's consumer business unit, in a statement. "It's becoming more and more critical for consumer to be protected beyond their PCs."

Already, according to IDC, there are more than 10 billion non-PC devices with Internet connectivity at large. It expects that number to grow to nearly 20 billion by 2014. Furthermore, many of those devices lack any built-in security.

On the smartphone front, then, Symantec expects to release a beta version of Norton Smartphone Security for Android devices next month. The software will allow users to remote-wipe their devices -- via text message -- and also add anti-malware software, plus the ability to block repeat nuisance callers.

From a storage standpoint, Norton Connect Beta, a free application now available for the iPhone, iPad or Android devices, can access any files archived using Norton Online Backup or Norton 360.

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