Study Reaffirms Symantec As World Leader

News Release

Study Reaffirms Symantec As World Leader In Security

Symantec Increases Security Market Share, Surpasses Market Growth Rate

Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced new reports by leading IT market research and advisory firm IDC places Symantec as the world’s leading vendor in secure content management (SCM) for the fourth consecutive year, as well as the world leader in corporate and consumer antivirus.

According to the report entitled, “Worldwide Secure Content Management 2004 - 2008 Forecast Update and 2003 Vendor Shares (IDC #31598, August 2004),” Symantec increased its market share of the worldwide SCM market to 33 percent. Additionally, Symantec’s growth rate of 36.5 percent from 2002 to 2003 outpaced the 24.9 percent overall growth rate for the SCM market. IDC reports that major information security threats, the explosive growth of spam, and corporate deadlines for compliance with government regulations fueled the need for web and messaging security solutions.

IDC’s “Worldwide Antivirus 2004-2008 Forecast and 2003 Vendor Shares report (IDC #31737, August 2004),” also names Symantec as the world’s leading vendor in antivirus solutions for the consumer and corporate markets. Symantec’s 38 percent growth rate in the corporate market far surpassed the previous leader who posted a negative growth rate 2002 - 2003.

“The 2003 onslaught of viruses and worms, such as Blaster and SoBig, not only highlights the importance of keeping security solutions up to date, it also shines a spotlight on the growing need for more proactive security products and services,” said Brian Burke, research manager of security products for IDC. “Additionally, spam continues to be a major driver for messaging security implementations, and Symantec’s acquisition of Brightmail underscores the market reality that customers will prefer to buy comprehensive messaging security solutions rather than point products.”

IDC now expects the worldwide revenue for SCM to reach $4.2 billion in 2004 with a market forecast increase to $7.5 billion in 2008 for a 16.9 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the period from 2003 through 2008. Included in IDC’s definition of the Secure Content Management market is antivirus, Web filtering, and messaging security solutions. Additionally, IDC forecasts the antivirus software market to reach $4.85 billion in 2008, representing a CAGR of 12.5 percent. “The time between the disclosure and widespread exploitation of a vulnerability continues to shrink,” said Gail Hamilton, executive vice president and general manager for Symantec’s Global Services and Support organisation.

“The best way to protect a network against any threat is to know about the threat and the vulnerability it exploits before the attack is launched. Symantec’s early warning solutions alert our customers to emerging attacks as well as provide actionable information on how to proactively protect the environment against the attack.” The IDC study examines the secure content management market for the period from 2002 to 2008, while the antivirus software market study is for the period from 2003 to 2008. Worldwide market sizing for both reports are provided for 2003, with trends from 2002, and a growth forecast is made for the SCM and antivirus markets for 2004 through 2008. A competitive analysis for vendors’ revenue and market shares is provided for 2003.

The study also profiles leading vendors and the characteristics that vendors will need to be successful in the future. About Symantec Symantec is the global leader in information security providing a broad range of software, appliances and services designed to help individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and large enterprises secure and manage their IT infrastructure. Symantec's Norton brand of products is the worldwide leader in consumer security and problem-solving solutions. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 35 countries. More information is available at http://www.symantec.com. ###

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ENDS

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