Symantec 2006 Annual Report Download - page 10

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PART I
Item 1. Business
Overview
Symantec is the world leader in providing a wide range of solutions to help individuals and enterprises
assure the security, availability, and integrity of their information technology, or IT, infrastructure as well as
the information itself. We primarily operate in two growing, diversified markets within the software sector: the
secure content management market and the storage software market. The secure content management market
includes products that protect consumers and enterprises from threats to personal computers, or PCs,
computer networks, and electronic information. The storage software market includes products that archive,
protect, and recover business-critical data. We believe that these markets are converging as customers
increasingly require both secure content management and storage solutions in order to safeguard their IT
infrastructure, information, and interactions.
Our mission is to provide solutions that help protect the connected experience of our enterprise and
consumer customers. Our goal is to be the leading supplier of security and availability software to the
enterprise and consumer markets, and to provide customers in both markets with greater confidence that their
information is secure and readily available. We strive to help our customers manage compliance, complexity,
and cost by protecting their IT infrastructure as they seek to maximize value from their IT investments.
In the ever-changing threat landscape and increasingly complex IT environment for consumers and
enterprises alike, we believe product differentiation will be the key to sustaining market leadership. Thus, we
continually work to enhance the features and functionality of our existing products, extend our product
leadership, and create innovative solutions for our customers. We focus on generating profitable and
sustainable growth through internal research and development, licensing from third parties, and acquisitions of
companies with leading technologies.
On July 2, 2005, we completed our acquisition of Veritas Software Corporation, a leading provider of
software and services to enable storage and backup, in a stock transaction valued at $13.2 billion. This
acquisition has provided us with the opportunity to redefine protection beyond security to include comprehen-
sive protection of information and applications and more effective management and control of computing and
storage environments from the desktop to the data center for individuals and organizations of all sizes. As a
result of this acquisition, we believe we are better positioned to help customers build a resilient IT
infrastructure, cost effectively manage a complex IT environment, and reduce overall IT risk. During fiscal
2006, excluding Veritas, we completed acquisitions of five privately-held companies and one public company
for an aggregate of $627 million in cash.
With revenue of $4.1 billion in fiscal 2006, Symantec ranks among the top four independent software
companies in the world. We have operations in 40 countries. Founded in 1982, we are incorporated in
Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at 20330 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, California
95014. Our telephone number at that location is (408) 517-8000. Our home page on the Internet is
www.symantec.com. Other than the information expressly set forth in this annual report, the information
contained, or referred to, on our website is not part of this annual report.
Industry
The secure content management market consists of antivirus, messaging security, web filtering, and anti-
spyware products and services. Security threats continue to evolve from traditional viruses, worms, Trojan
horses, and other vulnerabilities, to more recent threats such as phishing (attacks that use spoofed websites
and emails designed to record keystrokes or to fool recipients into divulging personal financial data), email
fraud, and identity theft. This evolution is a key driver of our research and development and acquisition
strategies, as we continually differentiate our solutions from the competition and address our customers'
changing needs.
4