Security: Symantec Shifts Focus to Lab

Maker of Norton Antivirus now wants to create technology instead of buy it.
By Priya Ganapati
November 12, 2005

Symantec, a company renowned for buying its way into emerging technologies, now says it will focus on developing technologies at the in-house research facility it built during the past year.

The new emphasis on the Symantec Research Lab, which combines the research teams of Symantec and Veritas, could affect the future of some security startups that consider an eventual acquisition by Symantec as an exit strategy.

Symantec, which makes the popular Norton Antivirus Software, recently met with analysts and the media to showcase some of the lab’s technology. Over the next few months, the company hopes to add more people to the team and create partnerships between the lab and its various product groups.

“You can call it the coming-out of the research lab,” said CTO Mark Bregman. “The question for us is how do we build a startup company within Symantec that can operate without all the costs and infrastructure associated with putting out a Symantec product.”

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