SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Feb 28, 2012) - RSA Conference - Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: [ SYMC ]) today announced the general availability of Symantec O₃ Cloud Identity and Access Control. [ Symantec O3 ], the company's cloud information protection platform, will provide three layers of protection for the cloud: access control, information security and information management. The newly available Symantec O₃ Cloud Identity and Access Control provides companies with a single, secure access point to cloud applications and services. In addition, Symantec has formed a partnership with salesforce.com to deliver Symantec O₃ for Salesforce, a single sign on, access management and strong authentication application, built on Force.com, salesforce.com's social enterprise platform.

According to a [ recent Symantec survey ], 44 percent of CEOs said they were cautious about moving business-critical applications to the cloud, with 76 percent citing security as a main concern.¹ Symantec O₃ establishes a new security control point for the cloud, enabling organizations to apply consistent identity and information security across all cloud services and devices.

"Companies want their employees to be able to take advantage of cloud services, but they also want to be confident that their critical information is protected as it flows in and out of the cloud," said Francis deSouza, group president, Enterprise Products and Services, Symantec. "Symantec O₃ is the answer. By enabling companies to achieve consistent identity and information protection across all cloud services and devices, Symantec O₃ will deliver that confidence and enable a more rapid adoption of cloud services in businesses around the world."

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Symantec O₃ Cloud Identity and Access Control enables Single Sign On (SSO) across any web application, including those that do not support federation protocols. It leverages an enterprise's existing identity infrastructure for authentication while enabling context-based authorization, password management and federation services. Symantec O3 Cloud Identity and Access Control comes pre-integrated with Symantec Validation and ID Protection Service (VIP), enabling enterprises to leverage their existing VPN credentials to strengthen access to any cloud application.

In the next phase, Symantec plans to deliver cloud information security by leveraging Symantec's leading DLP and PGP encryption technologies to automatically detect, block and encrypt confidential information before it's stored or shared in the cloud. The third layer of Symantec O₃ is scheduled to enable information management and compliance by aggregating all cloud-related security events, providing the foundation for comprehensive cloud audit, forensics and compliance.

Salesforce.com and Symantec Form Partnership to Deliver Symantec O₃for Salesforce
Salesforce.com and Symantec will bring together the power of Symantec O₃ security with salesforce.com's Force.com platform to deliver Symantec O3 for Salesforce. Symantec O₃ for Salesforce will enable customers to leverage their Salesforce identity to securely and conveniently access all of their cloud services, enabling two-factor authentication for Salesforce and other cloud applications. The solution is expected to be generally available in mid-2012.

Partner Quotes

"Social enterprises are looking to the power of Force.com to build and deliver mobile and secure apps. Symantec O₃ for Salesforce allows our customers to leverage their Salesforce identity to securely and conveniently access all of their cloud services from their device of choice."
--Ron Huddleston, senior vice president, ISV & Channel, salesforce.com

"Security cannot be an impediment to the adoption of cloud services for customers as they seek new approaches to achieve greater business impact. With Symantec O₃ built on the Cisco and NetApp Flexpod data center solution, customers will gain the benefits of a flexible and efficient shared infrastructure that will scale easily and provide the security controls required to deliver secure access to information and applications. Symantec joins a growing roster of organizations that are turning to FlexPod to accelerate and simplify their transition to the cloud. Cisco and NetApp are committed to providing customers with innovative, pre-tested cloud infrastructure solutions that meet their business-critical needs today and in the future."
--Chris Cummings, vice president, Product and Solutions Marketing, NetApp

Analyst Quote

"Security is consistently identified by enterprises as the top inhibitor to the adoption of cloud computing. Since we don't own or control the infrastructure that cloud-based services are delivered from, there is an increasing need to inject security policy such as identity mapping, encryption and access control between users and the cloud-based services they are consuming"
--Neil MacDonald, vice president and fellow, Gartner

Availability
Symantec O₃ Cloud Identity and Access Control is available now. Symantec O₃ may be implemented as a hosted, on-premise or hybrid model, depending on customer needs. For more information, please visit: [ http://go.symantec.com/o3 ].

Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and Symantec Join to Further Cloud Security Education
Recognizing that trained IT Security professionals are key to protecting the cloud, Symantec has partnered with the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) to jointly create and deliver a Cloud Security training and certification program. The program is expected to be generally available in mid-2012. For more information, please visit: [ http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/new-cloud-security-certification-symantec ].

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About Symantec
Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at [ www.symantec.com ] or by connecting with Symantec at: [ go.symantec.com/socialmedia ].

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please visit the Symantec News Room at [ http://www.symantec.com/news ]. All prices noted are in U.S. dollars and are valid only in the United States.

Symantec and the Symantec Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Any forward-looking indication of plans for products is preliminary and all future release dates are tentative and are subject to change. Any future release of the product or planned modifications to product capability, functionality, or feature are subject to ongoing evaluation by Symantec, and may or may not be implemented and should not be considered firm commitments by Symantec and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.

Technorati Tags
Symantec O₃, cloud computing, cloud security, governance, compliance, information protection, security, identity, authentication, access, visibility

¹ "2011 Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey," Symantec, June 13, 2011

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Symantec O3 Delivers New Security Control Point for the Cloud

Symantec O3 Delivers New Security Control Point for the Cloud