Symantec Unveils New Resources to Empower Partners to Grow Their Businesses in 2010


Symantec debuts significant enhancements to channel program at Partner Engage

ORLANDO, Flor. - Partner Engage 2009 - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today reinforced its commitment to help partners succeed in 2010 and beyond, unveiling a variety of new resources at its annual partner conference, Symantec Partner Engage 2009. These new enhancements are part of Symantec's commitment to helping partners increase their revenue and relevance with their customers and to improve their readiness to support customers' changing needs. New program elements include:

o SymDemo - An online tool that allows partners to demonstrate Symantec's products anywhere, anytime with a laptop and an Internet connection.

o Enhanced Enterprise Authorized Renewals Program - A revised enterprise renewals program to help protect partners' investment with increased margins and incumbent protection.

o Enterprise Security Specialization - Partners who earn this specialization will receive advanced tools and incentives for selling Symantec Enterprise Security Solutions.

o Partner Community on Symantec Connect - An online community that connects partners with Symantec and each other, enabling collaboration and information exchange.

"The technology market is highly competitive and constantly evolving, so Symantec is focused on helping our partners solve their customers' IT challenges, differentiate themselves and grow their businesses," said Randy Cochran, vice president, North American channel sales, Symantec Corp. "We're giving our partners even more opportunities to drive revenue and maintain relevance with their customers and helping them be prepared with the skills, solutions and resources necessary to meet the needs of today's challenging IT environment."

SymDemo

Currently available to members of Symantec's PartnerDemo Pilot, SymDemo, a virtualized, web-based demo and training platform, empowers partners with tools to perform product demos anytime, anywhere with a laptop and Internet connection. SymDemo gives partners remote accessibility by enabling them to give demonstrations without the need for a dedicated VPN connection. Like SymBrain, an online sales tool that helps partners quickly and easily determine the best Symantec solution for customers' IT projects, SymDemo started as an internal Symantec resource and has been extended to partners.

Enterprise Authorized Renewals Program

Symantec has enhanced its Enterprise Authorized Renewals Program based on valuable feedback received from its partner advisory council and the partner community. Available now, the updated program is designed to help partners protect their investment in Symantec and create a more efficient renewal process. The program honors the incumbent partner's investment and enables greater margin retention; it also ensures consistency and improves overall customer experience within the renewal process.

The program is open to Gold and Platinum partners in the United States and Silver, Gold and Platinum partners in Canada who are enrolled in the Symantec Authorized products program in North America and have signed a Direct Reseller Addendum. It applies to enterprise renewals of NetBackup, Storage Foundation, Cluster Server and Enterprise Vault.

Enterprise Security Specialization for Partners

Symantec's newest specialization will give partners qualified to sell Symantec Enterprise Security solutions greater opportunity for improved profitability and differentiation. Partners who earn the Enterprise Security Specialization will have access to incentives, programs and specialized content, as well as recognition as a Specialized partner within Symantec's Partner Locator.

This Specialization requires that partners attain sales and technical accreditations in Symantec Protection Suite Enterprise Edition, which ensures partners are highly competent in selling and deploying Symantec Enterprise Security solutions. With the specialization, partners can more effectively deliver solutions that solve their customer's most critical security challenges. The Enterprise Security Specialization will be available in late 2009 to Symantec Channel GSP, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Registered partners in North America.

New Partner Community on Symantec Connect

Symantec has added a new partner component to Symantec Connect, the company's online community for customers and partners. Available now, this new partner community connects partners with Symantec and each other, enabling them to collaborate and utilize technical and business information within one online community. It provides a forum for partners to engage with other partners, ask questions and make suggestions to Symantec channel leadership via forums, blogs and idea exchange. Visit Symantec's Partner Community now for the latest news from Partner Engage 2009.

Partner Quotes:

"Symantec understands the importance of having the right resources and information readily available to better support our customers," said Gavin Hood, vice president, Ontario, ESI Technologies. "Through these new programs and tools provided by Symantec, we have access to more options for customers, which in turn enables us to deploy solutions faster and simplify the budgetary process."

"Symantec's Partner Program provides ITS with the tools and training needed to further engage our customers at a higher contact level," said Chuck Hegarty, vice president, Business Development, ITS Partners. "Thanks to Symantec, our sales team knows what questions to ask and they have done their homework before engaging with a potential customer. These new enhancements to the program will help us drive even greater success in 2010."

About Symantec Partner Engage

Partner Engage 2009 is being held at the JW Marriott in Orlando, FL from November 4-6, 2009. Symantec's annual partner conference addresses partners through various keynotes and breakout sessions on relevant topics including data protection, storage management and high availability, endpoint management and security, the Symantec partner program and sales and partnering strategies. For more information please visit the Partner Engage website.

About Symantec

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

Symantec and the Symantec Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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