Symantec Details Product Road Map

At the security vendor's annual Analyst Meeting held here, Gail Hamilton, Symantec's executive vice president of product delivery and response, said the next version of Symantec Antivirus for SMTP Gateways will add "significant" antispam functionality.

The software will use multiple layers of technology, including black lists, white lists and advanced heuristics, to detect spam and minimize false positives, she said, adding that combining antivirus and antispam protection in one product reduces acquisition costs and the management burden for customers.

Symantec plans to boost the capabilities of its Client Security offering, which combines antivirus, firewall, intrusion-detection and content-filtering capabilities, and introduce a product that extends that integrated security to servers, Hamilton said.

New capabilities in Client Security, which was released last year, include an enhanced firewall, location awareness to determine whether a user is remote and the ability to check whether users have all of the latest security software updates before allowing them to log on to the network, she said.

Symantec is also enhancing its integrated Gateway Security appliance with a new design that makes it easier to use, increased reliability and a new intrusion-detection engine, Hamilton said. The product now will have the ManHunt IDS engine that Symantec acquired last year with its purchase of Recourse Technologies. Also, the appliance will provide enhanced performance at Gbit speeds, she said.

Last month, Symantec introduced new flexible licensing for Gateway Security, and the entry-level version of the appliance is now less than $10,000, Hamilton said.

Symantec's road map also includes a new vulnerability-assessment solution that can immediately identify vulnerabilities, rank their severity and prescribe remedies, she said. The company plans to release a new version of Incident Manager in the first half of this year.

Dieter Giesbrech, senior vice president of worldwide sales and services at Symantec, said the vendor is focused on building its relationship with systems integrators and VARs. "Accelerating the business with our existing VARs is our primary goal this year," he said.

Symantec has simplified its purchasing and licensing processes to make things easier for solution providers, said Giesbrech, adding that the company plans this year to enhance its Web site to improve communication with those partners.