Symantec CEO Opens Roadmap

PHOENIX -- Storage Networking World -- Hoping that the close of his companys $13.5 billion acquisition of Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) is drawing near, Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) CEO John Thompson stopped by the Storage Networking World conference to offer a sketchy roadmap of the planned product integration.

Thompson says he hopes the deal closes around the end of May (see Symantec & Veritas: It's a Deal). He identified the new buzzwords around the combination of backup and security: “resilient infrastructure.” And he made it clear all products will bear the Symantec name. But he offered little hope for customers overwhelmed by having to manage a host of agents to run Veritas software.

Thompson says for the first six months after the deal closes, Veritas and Symantec products will remain the same as they are now, but Symantec will look to bundle across product lines. For instance, Symantec’s DeepSite virus monitoring software might be sold with Veritas backup.

“Don’t assume we’re going to have an architectural footprint that we’re going to drop on people from Day One,” he said in a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

Between six months to a year after the deal, Thompson expects the products will be given a common look and feel as they take on characteristics “that make it look like [they're] coming from one company, not two.”