Huawei, Symantec to form Joint Venture

BANGALORE: Symantec Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. today announced that the two companies are forming a joint venture company.

The new company will develop and distribute security and storage appliances to global telecommunications carriers and enterprises.

Businesses around the world are building and maintaining IP networks and IT systems that support a growing number of connections. This requires balancing increasing performance and availability requirements with system security and data integrity.

The joint venture will help carriers and enterprises effectively address these challenges by offering security and storage appliances that are easy to implement and maximize value to customers. According to IDC, the global security and storage appliance market is $23 billion today, and the market in China is forecast to exceed $1.1 billion.

“Symantec is a software leader that offers world-class security and storage technologies that our customers are demanding,” said Ren ZhengFei, chief executive officer, Huawei. “The partnership with Symantec is part of Huawei’s All IP and FMC Fixed mobile convergence strategy. Network security will definitely form the foundation as telecom networks migrate toward an All IP environment. The partnership will enable us not only to provide leading network security solutions to carriers, but also to deliver professional security and storage solutions to enterprises, helping our customers build a safer and more efficient network.”

The new company will be headquartered in Chengdu, China, with Huawei owning 51 per cent of the joint venture and Symantec owning 49 per cent. Huawei will contribute its telecommunications storage and security businesses including its integrated supply chain and integrated product development management practices.

Additionally, the new company will have access to Huawei’s intellectual property licenses, research and development capabilities, manufacturing expertise and engineering talent, which includes more than 750 employees. The joint venture’s services and support infrastructure will draw upon Huawei's successful model for customer service and technical support, including worldwide technical support and call center operations.

“Huawei and Symantec agree that we need to constantly innovate and develop new solutions to keep pace with the evolving risks and increased availability requirements facing service providers and enterprise customers,” said John W. Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer, Symantec. “Huawei’s world-class product development and manufacturing capabilities joined with Symantec’s leading edge security and storage software technologies will offer unique solutions that will give customers more confidence that their systems are secure and available.”

Symantec will contribute some of its leading enterprise storage and security software licenses, working capital, and its management expertise into the new company. Symantec will also contribute $150 million toward the joint venture’s growth and expansion.

The joint venture is expected to close late in the calendar year, pending required regulatory and governmental approvals.