Symantec invests in China through JV with Huawei
Symantec invests in China through JV with Huawei
May 23, 2007: After weeks of rebutting rumours of a joint venture deal between itself and Chinese networking company, Huawei, Symantec today confirmed the joint-venture partnership to develop security and storage appliances targeting the Chinese enterprise sector.
The joint venture will be headquartered at the home of Sichuan’s hi tech industrial zone, Chengdu in south east China. Huawei will own a 51 per cent stake while Symantec, which owns the remaining 49 per cent, will be investing US $150 million to support growth in coming years. It will also contribute some of its enterprise storage and security software licenses, working capital, and its management expertise into the new company.
The new company will have access to Huawei’s intellectual property (IP) licenses, research and development capabilities, manufacturing expertise and engineering talent, which includes more than 750 employees.
IDC estimates that Chinese market for data storage and security represents about 5 percent of the US$23 billion global market for storage and security.
The China Mail speculates the JV will be an opportunity for Symantec claw back weak growth in the corporate sector after its 2004 acquisition of Veritas delivered mild results. The paper also speculated that Huawei will be better position to compete against IBM, EMC and HP, positioning itself to take on the US data storage market.
The deal will continue Huawei’s foray into data storage with companies like Falconstor. Under the “HC3” banner – a JV deal between 3Com and Huawei – it had been spruiking IP SAN solutions using Falconstor software.
Ren ZhengFei, chief executive officer, Huawei says, “The partnership with Symantec is part of Huawei’s All IP and FMC Fixed mobile convergence strategy. Network security will definitely form the foundation as telecom networks migrate toward an All IP environment.”
John W. Thompson, chairman and CEO, Symantec says, “Huawei’s world-class product development and manufacturing capabilities joined with Symantec’s leading edge security and storage software technologies will offer unique solutions that will give customers more confidence that their systems are secure and available.”
The joint venture is expected to close late in the calendar year, pending required regulatory and governmental approvals.
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