Briefs: January 24, 2005

LEVY TO RETIRE FROM TECH DATA

Levy has been with Tech Data since 1991, when he joined as director of software product marketing. He later served as vice president of product marketing for the networking division of the distributor, led Tech Data's marketing operations in France and was president of Tech Data Canada before returning to the Clearwater, Fla. headquarters in 1998.

"It's a perfect time for me. I have a great team here in marketing and product management that can handle the current needs of the business. I found it's time to move on," Levy said.

Levy will remain with Tech Data for at least a month to help launch the company's 2005 business plan.

VARs MIXED ON NEW SYMANTEC GATEWAYS
Security vendor Symantec this week plans to launch two new lines of antispam gateway appliances, but some solution providers said the products may do more harm than good.

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The products, the Symantec Mail Security 8100 and 8200 series, blend Symantec antivirus technology with antispam technology the vendor acquired from Brightmail in June.

Previously, solution providers offered these technologies as two separate solutions and built integration services around both. With both technologies now on one plug-and-play appliance, David Sockol, president of Emagined Security, San Carlos, Calif., said that solution providers may have to find service revenue elsewhere.

"Don't get me wrong, these appliances are going to be fantastic," he said. "But there's not really much opportunity for us to bill for implementation."

Symantec executives downplayed the impact the appliances would have on service revenue, instead focusing on the functionality.

Specifically, the Symantec Mail Security 8240 is designed for midsize businesses with anywhere from 100 to 1,000 users, while the Symantec Mail Security 8260 is designed for enterprises with between 1,000 and 2,000 users. The Symantec Mail Security 8160 is designed to be a premium traffic shaping appliance for enterprises and ISPs.

NETSEC ACQUISITION BOLSTERS MCI'S SECURITY SERVICES
MCI said it will acquire privately held NetSec, a provider of managed security services to government agencies and companies in 32 countries spanning the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The acquisition will be made for about $105 million in cash.

MCI said it will combine NetSec's premise-based intelligence with MCI's network-based intelligence. The merging of the two network technologies will bring users views of their security environment across multiple systems. The firms will also offer NetSec's Finium security services platform.

MCI said the acquisition will accelerate its ability to deliver certain advanced security measures by more than a year.

The firms said they expect to close the transaction within 30 days.

SUN READIES SOLARIS 10, SET TO DETAIL OPEN SOLARIS PLANS
Even as it plans to unveil details of its open-source version of Solaris this week, Sun Microsystems plans to officially release its commercial Solaris 10 upgrade for download Jan. 31, and will have final packaged media available for customers and partners on March 7, a spokesperson said.

The difference between the Jan. 31 and March 7 release is just a physical box and DVDs, the spokesperson said. However, it's unclear if the company's Linux Application Environment will be included in either first-quarter release. Sun said previously that LAE would ship after Solaris 10. LAE enables Linux applications to run natively on Solaris, a key feature of the upgrade.

SYMANTEC/VERITAS CHOOSES INTEGRATION TEAM
Veritas Software CFO Ed Gillis will head the integration team that will combine Symantec and Veritas, the two companies said.

Although the merger will not be finalized until the second quarter, executives from both companies are already beginning to take on specific tasks. For instance, Veritas CEO Gary Bloom will be responsible for all customer-facing sales operations, including the channel, once the two companies are combined. Jeremy Burton, Veritas executive vice president for data management, will report to John Schwarz, currently president and COO of Symantec.

But other executive decisions will be left to the transition team management, including whether Thomas Kendra, Symantec senior vice president for worldwide sales, or Art Matin, Veritas executive vice president for worldwide sales, will lead the combined companies' sales effort. Once that decision is made, the combined companies will address which executive will ultimately run the channel programs for the combined entity. The current worldwide head of channel sales for Symantec is Allyson Seelinger. The previous head of channel sales for Veritas, Michael Sotnick, recently resigned to join SAP.

"Right now we're going through the process of sorting out what the next level down of the management team looks like," said Bloom. "But when it comes to sales, that's one of the areas you really can't [discuss] until the deal closes."