Symantec should compete against Intel in the alliance

According to foreign media reports, Intel’s acquisition of McAfee for US$7.68 billion may force security software competitor Symantec to try to establish technology to prevent hackers and establish new alliances within enterprise computers to remain competitive.

The acquisition of McAfee by Intel heralds a change in the global security software market. According to market research firm Gartner, the global security software market is $16.5 billion. As consumers and businesses connect more PCs, servers, smartphones and other products to the network, McAfee will allow Intel to build protection programs on the chips of these devices, improving performance and making systems hard to attack.

Goldman Sachs analyst James Covello said that Symantec should sign new cooperation agreements with various technology suppliers such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Oracle. Symantec also needs to expand its network security products that protect corporate computers.

Brent Thill, an analyst at UBS in San Francisco, said that Symantec has moved away from cybersecurity. He is rated "neutral" by Symantec and does not hold any Symantec shares. Keeping away from cyber security will prevent Symantec from competing with companies such as Cisco, Juniper Networks and Check Point, which are dominant in this area.

Since the acquisition of McAfee showed the importance of security software, Symantec shares rose the most in 10 months on Thursday. Analysts said that Symantec itself cannot be a target for acquisition because the company’s market value is $10.9 billion. Symantec shares rose 43 cents, or 3.2%, on the Nasdaq Friday, trading at $13.80.

Goldman Sachs analyst Covello said that HP, IBM and Oracle may agree to establish some form of alliance with Symantec instead of acquiring Symantec because they do not want to compete directly with Intel.