EMC-RSA vs. Symantec-Veritas
"I won't talk too much about my competitor," said Coviello in an interview with CMP Channel. "I'd rather talk more about RSA and EMC. But the one thing I will point out is that at the time of the Veritas-Symantec merger, [Symantec Chairman and CEO] John Thompson talked about a category called Assurance, combining information security with backup recovery and archiving. Not a bad premise. The problem is you can't do it with antivirus and the assets of Veritas. With EMC and RSA, [you had products] protecting access to the data center, having strong user authentication, encryption technology. None of which Symantec had. RSA had all of those assets heading into the merger. So we were in a much better position to create this category of Assurance than Symantec ever was or, quite frankly, I think ever will be."
Coviello's comments come at a critical time for Cupertino, Calif.-based Symantec, which recently restructured and added new leadership positions as part of a move to improve the performance of both the Symantec and Veritas businesses. The restructuring puts in place the same operating unit model Veritas had before it was tightly integrated into Symantec.
Symantec's $10.25 billion acquisition of Veritas, completed nearly three years ago, stands as one of the largest deals in the technology industry in the past five years. EMC, Hopkinton, Mass., purchased RSA for $2.1 billion in a deal completed nearly two years ago.
Coviello said EMC-RSA is both a good stra-tegic and cultural fit. "Security needs to be built into the infrastructure," he said. "We have got a number of proof points as we are building our technology into EMC's product portfolio. So the strategic rationale was there. Cultural compatibility was fantastic. Both companies are innovative, results-oriented, hard-driving."