Symantec Resurrects Veritas Brand for Newly Separated IM Business

Written by DH Kass 1
January 28, 2015

Symantec (SYMC) said its spun-off information management business will take on the Veritas name, sporting a new logo but relying on the original company’s brand recognition, history and reputation to help establish its own new identity.

Symantec (SYMC) said its spun off information management business will take on the Veritas name, sporting a new logo but relying on the original company’s brand recognition, history and reputation to help establish its own new identity.

The security vendor, which in October said it intended to split into separate security and storage operations, bought Veritas in 2005 for $13.5 billion, in an acquisition that never did seem to fit. The separation of the two operations into independent, publicly traded entities is expected to be completed by December 2015, with the information management business officially known as Veritas Technologies Corp.

Information management accounted for some $621 million of Symantec’s $1.6 billion in sales in its FQ1 2015, with enterprise security generating $511 million and consumer security bring in $485 million in revenue for the period. For the full FY 2014, the Veritas business accounted for $2.5 billion in revenue for Symantec.

“Veritas remains a powerful brand that still has tremendous equity with our customers, partners and employees, and after careful review it was an easy choice as the name for our information management business,” said Michael Brown, Symantec president and chief executive officer. “While the name recalls the company’s heritage, the new logo signals that Veritas is ready to solve the most critical information challenges facing our customers today and tomorrow.”

Officials said the new Veritas logo is intended to convey principles “at the core of the future strategy” of the new company—open, heterogeneous technologies required to harness the power of information.

John Gannon, a former Quantum chief operating officer and head of Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) commercial PC business, will be the general manager of Veritas Technologies, while current Symantec chief Brown will serve as president and CEO of the security operation.

The Security business will include consumer and enterprise endpoint security; endpoint management; encryption; mobile; SSL certificates; user authentication; mail, web and data center security; data loss prevention; hosted security; and managed security services. The Information Management business will include backup and recovery, archiving, eDiscovery, storage management and information availability solutions.