Symantec to Acquire Altiris for $830m

By the Betanews Staff | Published January 29, 2007, 2:15 PM

Security software vendor Symantec announced Monday it has agreed to acquire Altiris, a maker of asset management software, in a cash deal valued at about $830 million. Altiris counts Dell, IBM and Microsoft as partners who sell its products to businesses.

Altiris' software helps companies manage and service the desktops, laptops, and other devices used by employees. It also enables them to keep track of back-end infrastructure such as servers and storage hardware. Symantec says the acquisition fits into the company's vision of unified security, as Altiris software makes it easier to know when a system is vulnerable or needs upgrading.

Comments

View comments by with a score of at least

god F*cking damnit!! that really blows. i love norton and it works well. but i have had nothing but headaches from symantec. their software just strait out sucks! hard! its earning a rep as over hyped under-delivering garbage they can somehow pass as software.

what next.....? microsoft buys apple?

Score: 0

|

(sigh) one less competitor in the free market...

...we the people (not the EU or government, as they'll just screw it up worse than it was before just as they always have) need to start doing something about this I think--pretty soon there will be only two companies for every business sector, and perhaps even they will partner up to over price everything. Buying out companies rarely benifits in the long run, but because it does have immediate temporary benefits, it will always benefit the CEO and the other head-hauncho's. Too bad the rest of the company suffers...

What a selfish world we live in today!

Score: 0

|

I hate to say it, but the only possible alternative is open source. Retail days are over. Corporations have long ago eliminated the single-man threat (usually by acquisition or legal threats).

Score: 0

|

Great. Now Altiris' products can become as bloated as SAV! I can hardly wait!

Score: 0

|

A real beta process at work: Mozilla fires up Firefox 3.6 Beta 2

In the clearest sign yet that public input really does help the development process, a flurry of bug detections provoked Mozilla to release Beta 2 of the next Firefox.

Kindle for PC opens in beta, underwhelms

Amazon has opened the beta of Kindle for PC, a companion to the Kindle, but little else.

European ministers approve watered-down 'neutral net' language

The latest provision in the EU's telecoms regulatory framework would let businesses cancel individuals' Internet access, if they go to court first.

Snow Leopard and Windows 7 still can't crack the netbook problem

Apple has killed Atom support in OS X 10.6.2 and Windows 7 Starter Edition is stripped of "basic" functionality.

Bing vs. Google rematch on video search

After Microsoft folds some old MSN Video features back into Bing, do they add to the search engine's functionality or take away?

HP to acquire 3Com for $2.7 B in cash, focus on China

A long and uncertain comeback trail comes to an end for the one-time network equipment giant.

Bing gets geekier with new Wolfram Alpha integration

Microsoft's Bing is now teamed up with Wolfram Alpha for computational search results.

Universities reject Kindle DX as a textbook replacement

Two universities running Kindle DX pilot programs have rejected the device.

New EU telecoms framework mandates user consent before getting cookies

Do you want a cookie? No. Do you want a cookie? No. Do you want a cookie? No. Do you want...Are you annoyed yet? That's a preview of 2011.

The Samsung Intrepid: A nice phone, if you can accept Windows Mobile

Samsung appears to have built solid enough hardware, but it's the software that seems uncomfortable and unintuitive.

It's the US vs. the EU over Oracle+Sun and the meaning of 'open source'

Now that the EU is a virtual country, the US Justice Dept. is taking a stand in favor of its view -- and against the EC's -- that MySQL will survive under Oracle.