Symantec Lays Off 80, Drops Appliance Lines

In a statement to TechWeb Monday, a Symantec spokesperson said that the Cupertino, Calif. security developer would reduce its investment in the Gateway Security (SGS) line as well as the Network Security (SNS) 7100 and SGS Advanced Manager 3.0 appliances.

The SGS line features four series -- the 400, 1600, 5400, and 5600 -- of rack-mounted hardware that combines security defenses including firewall, anti-virus, intrusion prevention and detection, anti-adware and anti-spyware, anti-spam, content filtering, and SSL VPN. The SGS Advanced Manager 3.0 offers centralized policy management, configuration, logging, alerting, and reporting.

"We will continue to sell and support these products across all go-to-market routes," the spokesperson said. But the "change in investment strategy," as Symantec put it, meant laying off about 80 employees.

Rather than produce the hardware and software for security appliances, Symantec will focus on the latter and look for partners to take on the hardware.

Some appliances, however, will remain, including Symantec Mail Security (SMS), Symantec Security Information Manager (SSIM), and Symantec Network Access Control Enforcer.

In early trading Monday, Symantec shares climbed 9 cents to $15.71 (0.58 percent).