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Another trend Symantec is tracking is the growing adoption of social media by businesses that are looking for a more efficient alternative to email, Salem said.
"Before you know it, hundreds of emails have been generated to get one simple answer," he said. "We think that model is fundamentally broken. Companies that take advantage of what we call the social enterprise will drive meaningful productivity improvements over companies who use traditional communications tools."
Server and storage virtualization has seen rapid adoption, but there is much yet to be done as customers start adopting cloud computing, Salem said. "Virtualization is just pooling resources," he said.
The bigger challenge, Salem said, is figuring out how to take the various compute and storage resources, put them in a pool, and more effectively utilize them. "We're aggregating resources and delivering applications to customers big and small over the Internet," he said.
Symantec is also watching the evolution of the regulatory environment, but signs are pointing in an ominous direction, Salem said. "Unfortunately, we're going to see more regulation, not less," he said.
Next: Tying All The Trends Together
