Virtualization is the latest trend, and the future

What is your current focus on SRL, specifically in the realm of messaging

security?



The team is working on a number of technologies to enhance approaches

already present in our products like the ones from Vontu. We are also

researching on performance and scalability of some products. Boundary-less

enterprise, SaaS models, long-term market trends in data loss prevention, and

messaging continue to keep us going.

Any significant changes that intrigue you in terms of how the whole

messaging landscape is evolving?



Yes, one thing I find particularly interesting is the time we spend on

scanning good messages, just to spot and pick out the bad ones. It is harder to

spot and leaf through a good message instead of a bad one. So why not work the

other way around? Hence, we are working on improving the overall scanning

performance.

Where is your trying the flip-it approach and how right has it turned

out to be so far?



There are a number of projects that are attacking the same problems in a

different way. Innovative technologies and virtualization are some of them.

Virtualization? How?



Virtualization is the latest trend and the future. But there are drawbacks

on management, administration, cost issues, etc. The challenge is how to keep

the virtualization environment safe because it comes in many forms.

Imagine a malicious program attacks; we can keep it in a virtualized cocoon,

gauge its real impact, and then let it take off. The core technology of

virtualization can have new applications as a security tool.

Symantec has been under the grey cloud of concern off and on, when it

comes to simplifying and integrating acquisitions. Could you delve on how

Project Hamlet handles that issue?



Well, its not specific to Hamlet but overall; Symantec has been learning

important lessons to integrate acquisitions. One of them is that too much or

wrong integration is not a good thing. In the past, we used to throw open covers

of technologies from both the sides and integrate at gut-level.

Too low a level of integration consumes too much detail and time. We have

learnt this through hard lessons. So now we are again looking at going the other

way round and do it at high-level with new collaboration architecture.

Pratima Harigunani/CyberMedia News



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