Silicon Valley security giant Symantec will be introducing a major overhaul of its Norton family of antivirus and other security software next month. Starting on September 23, the nine Norton products currently in existence will be replaced by a single solution, called simply Norton Security, a comprehensive suite which will provide antivirus, malware and spyware protection and other services for a fee of $80 a year.
Symantec acquired Peter Norton Computing, developer of optimization software Norton Utilities, in 1990 and, since then, steadily introduced more products to the Norton line, most notably Norton AntiVirus. Norton 360, introduced in 2007, purported to be an all-in-one suite, adding a backup program, firewall and phishing protection to the antivirus software, but Norton Security will supersede it by replacing all existing Norton products.
Norton Security will work across a number of platforms and operating systems, including Mac and Windows personal computers and Android and iOS smartphones. Users will be able to log in to their Norton accounts on several devices, using a system that senior director of product management Gerry Egan, talking to CNET, compared to Netflix's subscription model. There will, however, still be separate smartphone apps for specific tasks.
The overhaul is part of a shakeup at Symantec that began with the firing of CEO Steve Bennett in March. In addition to the launch of Norton Security, September is also expected to see the appointment of Bennett's replacement. In the meantime, said executive vice president Fran Rosch in a press briefing, the goal is to simplify the company's products for the users' benefit, even as Symantec has been streamlining its own internal operations.
The company also stressed that current customers will not see any change to their service, regardless of which Norton product they currently use.
