Symantec 2002 Annual Report Download - page 31

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 31 of the 2002 Symantec annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 109

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109

Technical Support
With more than 300 experts in Internet security and desktop and network management, as well as our
complete product solutions, our global technical support team is available around the clock. Our technical
support experts provide customers with information on product implementation and usage, as well as
countermeasures and identiÑcation tools for new threats.
We maintain centralized support facilities throughout the world to drive rapid response to complex
queries. Support is available in multiple languages, including Dutch, English, French, German, Italian,
Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish.
Enterprise Security Support
Our enterprise security support program oÅers annual support contracts to all enterprise customers
worldwide. Our standard annual support contracts provide 1) hot-line service delivered by telephone, fax,
e-mail and over the Internet; 2) immediate patches for severe problems; 3) periodic software updates;
4) access to our technical knowledge base and FAQ facility; and 5) an invitation to the annual user group
meeting. Inclusive in these standard annual support contracts are virus deÑnitions and intrusion detection
signatures created by Symantec Security Response. Customers may augment their standard annual support
contract with services such as 24x7x365 hour telephone and web support, advanced alerting services,
additional designated callers (contacts) and additional language support, as well as a Technical Account
Manager, assigned to work closely with an organization and act as a focal point for all issues.
Consumer Product Support
Our product support program provides free self-help online services to all consumer customers worldwide.
In some countries, access to free telephone support is provided for a limited period of 30 to 90 days, depending
upon the country. After the initial period, telephone support is provided for a fee throughout North America,
as well as portions of Asia PaciÑc and Europe. For some of our international customers, we continue to
transition our product support to be entirely fee based telephone support, along with free self-help online
support. For customers that subscribe to them, the latest virus deÑnitions and application bug Ñxes and/or
patches for most of our currently marketed and developed products are downloaded automatically through
LiveUpdate, created by Symantec Security Response.
We revise these fee-based support programs from time to time as customer requirements change and as
market trends dictate.
Product Development, Partnerships, Investments and Acquisitions
We use a multiple product sourcing strategy that includes, as necessary:
‚ internal development;
‚ licensing from third parties;
‚ investment in companies; and
‚ acquisitions of technologies, product lines or companies.
We develop software products that are designed to operate on a variety of operating systems. We typically
develop new products and enhancements of existing products through focused product development groups
with support from our core technology group. Each segment is responsible for its own design, development,
documentation and quality assurance.
Independent contractors are used for aspects of the product development process. In addition, elements of
some of our products are licensed from third-party developers.
We invest in companies with emerging technologies and companies that promote the sale and use of our
products. These investments are made in lieu of an acquisition when timing is inappropriate or when the
9