4 October 2005
Symantec To Acquire Bindview
Extends IT Policy Compliance Solutions by Offering Agent-based and Agent-less Architectures
Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BindView Development
Corporation (Nasdaq: BVEW), a global provider of agent-less IT security compliance software. The all-cash transaction,
which is subject to regulatory and BindView shareholder approvals, is valued at approximately $209 million or $4 per
share and is expected to close in the first calendar quarter of 2006.
Upon close of this acquisition, Symantec expects to provide a comprehensive end-to-end solution for policy compliance
and vulnerability management, offering customers a choice of agent-based or agent-less technology architectures.
“Today’s global organisations are challenged by an ever changing security environment and by the need to meet multiple
government regulations,” said Ajei Gopal, senior vice president, Solutions, Alliances and Operations, Symantec.
“We are excited to be able to offer customers BindView’s leading agent-less policy compliance solution. Not only will we
be able to meet customers’ IT security and policy compliance needs with a complete range of product capabilities, but we
will also be able to help reduce the cost and complexity associated with compliance.”
Agent-based and agent-less policy compliance solutions are complementary capabilities in the IT environment and address
different customer needs. Symantec’s agent-based technology architecture offers full-featured compliance and
vulnerability management, and is well suited for enterprises that have complex and heterogeneous IT environments.
BindView’s agent-less architecture, which is less IT-staff intensive, is ideal for organisations faced with managing a
large number of systems that are not centrally located, such as Windows desktop machines deployed throughout the
enterprise.
“BindView provides organisations with IT security compliance solutions that enable them to enforce policies, demonstrate
compliance, as well as protect their global IT environments from malicious threats and vulnerabilities,” said Eric J.
Pulaski, chairman and chief executive officer, BindView Corporation.
“We are thrilled to combine our agent-less technology with Symantec’s complementary industry leading products to create
a powerful solution set that will offer customers comprehensive capabilities for meeting the critical demands of their
IT infrastructures.”
Symantec and BindView Capabilities
Enterprises in both the public and private sector are faced with meeting an increasing list of regulatory mandates, such
as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and Basel II.
Compliance with these regulations is difficult and expensive, placing new burdens on businesses as they also work to
secure their global IT infrastructures.
BindView’s IT security compliance software helps simplify and reduce the cost of demonstrating regulatory compliance by
automating three critical functions – policy and compliance management, vulnerability and configuration management, and
directory and access management.
Its technology helps organisations define and manage security policies and demonstrate compliance with new and evolving
regulations. It also helps customers assess vulnerabilities, secure IT configurations and remediate exposures for
servers, workstations, applications and networks across multi-platform environments.
Together, Symantec and BindView offer companies a choice of industry-leading agent-based or agent-less solutions that
will enable them to define, control and sustain their IT compliance requirements. The combined companies will offer the
most comprehensive end-to-end solution for policy and vulnerability management from a single vendor.
Companies will be able to define and create policies based on the regulations, frameworks and standards that are
relevant for their industry. Organisations can control compliance by implementing secure configurations, addressing
vulnerabilities including patch management, securing user access, and developing sound policies. Lastly, companies can
sustain IT compliance by providing evidence of compliance and clearly demonstrating due care.
About BindView
BindView Development Corporation is a global provider of IT security compliance software. BindView solutions remove
barriers that limit an organisation’s ability to cost-effectively demonstrate due care and maintain compliance with IT
security policies and regulatory mandates.
BindView policy compliance, vulnerability and configuration management, and directory and access management software
combines best-practice knowledge with automated controls to reduce risk and protect IT assets at the lowest cost across
users, systems, applications and databases in multi-platform environments.
More than 20 million licences have been sold to 5,000 companies worldwide, spanning all major business segments and the
public sector.
About Symantec
Symantec is the world leader in providing solutions to help individuals and enterprises assure the security,
availability and integrity of their information. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more
than 40 countries. More information is available at www.symantec.com.
ENDS