Symantec seeks value from Vontu

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 06 November 2007 10:23

IT Industry - Strategy

Symantec plans to acquire Vontu and its technologies for the policy-based prevention of data leakage.

Vontu's products can prevent sensitive data from being copied to local or removable storage or sent via email or other Internet channels. Other tools help identify the location of confidential information and close off any exposed files.

"As part of our Security 2.0 vision, we have long been pushing a view that security should be driven by policy, focused on information and supported by a managed infrastructure," said Tom Kendra, group president of Symantec's security and data management group.

"Vontu's offerings provide insight into the information itself, the context in which it's being used and the controls needed to prevent its loss."

Former Vontu employees would continue to operate as a dedicated team within Kendra's group, according to company officials. The Vontu data loss prevention technologies would be overlaid on Symantec's current security, storage and compliance products and services.

Symantec officials expect to close the deal by the end of the year. No terms were disclosed.