Symantec''s pcAnywhere Vista in June

Pratima Harigunani

PUNE: Symantec Corp.'s remote control solution pcAnywhere will see a Microsoft Vista upgrade soon and would hit the market by June this year.

Deepak Mohan, vice president, Data and Systems Management Group (DSMG), Symantec, said that the product has been completely developed by the company's Pune team and would be released in May or June. "Work is underway. We are code complete and going through a three to four month testing cycle for all platforms, hardware and network areas." This news come six months after the company released pcAnywhereTM 12.0 and Symantec pcAnywhere Access Server.

"These products had added features like transparent connectivity between help desk professionals and remote users, expanded ease-of-use and additional cross-platform support - as well as compatibility for Mac OS X," Mohan explained.

He refuted concerns on having Microsoft as the sole focus area. "Whenever, wherever, a Microsoft release happens, we are quick to upgrade our products within 30 days. All our products, hence, have been refreshed for Vista. SMB market in India is pretty much Windows-centric with Microsoft commanding 68 per cent of server market and Windows OS over 70 per cent of PCs here."

DSMG has a 30 per cent R&D presence in India. The Indian team contributes significantly on innovation for Windows products and it is the second largest Backup Exec development centre for Symantec, he added. "Development work here covers Database agents, DLO, archival, test automation etc. The November release of Backup Exec 11d added areas like granular recovery of individual objects, active directories, encryption features, 64 bit support as well as enhanced support on Net App, NAS, DB2, etc."

DSMG contributes an estimated 15 to 20 per cent to the company's overall revenues.

Besides pcAnywhere and Backup Exec, Symantec's DSMG portfolio has Ghost administration as product lines that see SMBs (Small and Medium Businesses) as a big potential market. "The estimated IT spends by SMBs in 2006 is $7.7 billion and the YoY growth is pegged at 20 per cent. With around 1.9 million SMBs here with computers, it's an attractive space."

Mohan cited lack of sophistication and awareness on IT support and concomitant business vulnerabilities as main lessons on SMB market in India so far.

"With a basket that has universal appeal across verticals, we are geared up to address this market as we move ahead," he added.

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