Symantec, the world's largest PC antivirus maker, on Monday unleashed Norton 360, the company's latest salvo in the battle for consumer security dollars.
Norton 360 is Symantec's new flagship consumer security product, unseating its Norton Internet Security suite. First announced a year ago under the Genesis code name, Norton 360 includes a host of technologies, many from Symantec's current security, PC optimisation and backup products. Yet Symantec said it didn't just cobble together existing wares for Norton 360; many of the features are brand new.
"It is all-in-one security for the mainstream PC user who wants a product that is going to take care of things for them," said Tom Powledge, director of product management at Symantec. "We didn't want to make it a big old kitchen sink. We're not playing the feature game. We want to make the features right for every customer."
Norton 360 is designed to compete with the latest products from McAfee as well as security newcomer Microsoft, which shipped Windows Live OneCare last May. Following Microsoft's lead, all of the latest security products combine basic antivirus, antispyware and firewall technologies with backup features and several tune-up tools for Windows PCs — features that Symantec and McAfee traditionally charged extra for.
Microsoft's entry into the market has heightened competition for consumers' security dollars. In 2005, the worldwide market for consumer antivirus software reached $1.95bn, up 17 percent year over year, according to research from Gartner. Symantec dominated the space, taking a 70 percent piece of the pie.
Norton 360 is part of Symantec's broader vision for the next generation of online security, coined Security 2.0. The company sees a major role for itself in restoring consumers' trust in online commerce. As such, Norton 360 includes technologies to protect online transactions in addition to techniques to block traditional threats from malicious software.
Norton 360 is now available for purchase through the Symantec online store and is slated to be on store shelves in March. The suggested retail price is $79.99 (£40.68) for use on up to three PCs and including one year of updates, which is $10 more than Norton Internet Security.
Symantec plans to offer Norton Internet Security users an upgrade deal to Norton 360 and will ship the new product through PC partners and other bundling deals.
Talkback
Why do the supposed 'market leaders' insist on bundling every product known to man into their security suites - which I do concede is what a lot of customers want - at the expense of flexibility?
I find it virtually impossible now to get plain and simple anti-virus from any of these companies. I have a perfectly good firewall in having a well-configured hardware router and a highly customised copy of ZoneAlarm Pro, I use PC Tools and AdAware for spyware etc, and all I want is to supplement those is a good anti-virus.
Both McAfee and Symantec virtually refuse to sell their anti-virus components standalone, and as long as they continue to do so, I will refuse to buy them. I hold both their anti-virus products in high regard and use them in corporate installations where it is still possible to buy the components my clients require.
I know there are other products out there to do a perfectly good job of virus control, but that is not my point. I just can't help getting tired of seeing all the big companies wrapping their products into 'extra-value' suites. I wouldn't mind so much if I could then choose what components to install, but I can't - it's either everything or nothing - and I'm fed up with it!