When news of the Symantec-Veritas merger broke last December, Wall Street frowned. Over the next few months, shares took a beating, losing nearly half their value. Since April, Symantec has recovered some of that lost ground, and predictions are gradually becoming a little brighter.

''Wall Street was confused by the merger, as to their mind, there have not been too many big technology mergers that have worked,'' says Jon Oltsik, information security analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. ''The stock is now edging up, as it makes logical sense to the customer base of both companies.''

Symantec president and vice chairman Gary Bloom concurs. He reports that the installed bases of both companies are responding positively to the merger, as evidenced in customer advisory boards and executive interactions with clientele.

IDC storage software analyst Rhoda Phillips views the acquisition as a positive for the large Veritas user community.

''Veritas customers will now have easier access to security software, hardware and services than in the past,'' says Phillips. ''Veritas products, which have generally been pitched to enterprise customers, will also become more available to small and medium-sized businesses through Symantec's customer base.''

As Symantec sees it, the addition of Veritas brings together the leader in security software with the leader in storage software. These two areas, says Bloom, form a vital combination in meeting the challenges of securing and managing an irreplaceable business asset information.

''This transaction is unique because we are combining two industry leaders,'' says Bloom. ''The new Symantec brings together more than 14,000 of the industry's best and brightest, focused on the two top issues on the minds of CIOs worldwide security and the availability of information.''

M&M Merger

While some mega-technology mergers, such as HP-Compaq, appear to have been a disappointment, not all mergers are created equally. Some companies, for example, have turned the art of business acquisitions into a smoothly oiled process. They have entire teams in place and vast tomes of best practices they call on to ensure rapid assimilation.

Cisco, for example, gobbles up companies as easily as melting M&Ms in your mouth. And it's the same for Symantec. The security giant has been at the acquisition game for about two decades, growing from obscurity to global dominance in the enterprise marketplace. Remember Norton Utilities? Symantec consumed that firm a long time back and has since added dozens more to the fold -- most recently, firms such as On Technology (patch management) and PowerQuest (partitioning and systems management) -- as part of a long-term enterprise strategy.

''The acquisition of Veritas was consistent with Symantec's previously stated goal of integrating security with system management,'' says Phillips. ''It also augments Symantec's previous system management acquisitions of On Technology and PowerQuest.''

Accordingly, Symantec has wasted no time in handing Veritas the yellow jersey. According to Bloom, a joint team from both organizations has been working intensely since December to enable as smooth a transition as possible. Built in to the process is a focus on making the merger as seamless and quickly beneficial to customers as possible.

''While there is much work to do now that the transaction is complete, we believe everything is going smoothly in terms of bringing the organizations together quickly and effectively,'' says Bloom.

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