The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Symantec auditions for services residency

Will look after data for cash

SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had

Symantec made another effort to drop its “oh the virus guys” image today when it unveiled two services programmes pitched at enterprise customers.

The Symantec Operational Services scheme is built along outsourcing lines, with customers handing over functions such as backup and recovery, remote monitoring of data, and data recovery. The firm is pitching this as a “service level agreement” deal.

Customers not quite ready to completely hitch themselves to Symantec might consider its Symantec Residency Services, where it commits to provide “knowledgeable experts” on a fee basis. Right now, this comes in two flavours – Symantec Data Protection Residency Services and Symantec Antivirus Residency Services.

Both schemes are being run out of Symantec’s Consulting Services arm. The company has been looking to position itself as something than a utilities vendor this year, partnering with Accenture in October, and buying up UK-based consultancy Company-I last month.According to Symantec it currently has over 900 consultants.

But this is just a drop in the ocean compared to the ranks of services giants such as EDS or IBM. The again, for years, Symantec has been concentrating on doing just a few things very well, so maybe CIOs who are really exercised about data will think about calling them rather than Big Blue.& reg;

Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner

More from The Register

SCO vs. IBM battle resumes over ownership of Unix
Zombie lawsuit back and wants to suck the brains out of Linux
 breaking news
You don't need phone lines or cable for ANYTHING, says Dish
The satellite-dish man can sort you out with phone and broadband over the air too
 breaking news
What's HP got under wraps? Looks awfully flash and tape shaped
What happens in Vegas won't stay there - we've got the details
Microsoft borks botnet takedown in Citadel snafu
Stupid Redmond kicked over our honeypots, wail white hats
AMD lifts the veil on Opteron, ARM chip plans for 2014
Not much action going on in 2013, though
IBM's $1bn layoffs latest: Now axe swings in US, Canada - reports
Union claims 121 storage bods canned after dismal sales
NetApp musters muscular cluster bluster for ONTAP busters
Storage array OS overhauled to juggle more nodes, go down on you, er, less
HP adds 'Haswell' Xeon E3s to entry ProLiant servers
Gussies up MicroServer for SMBs, adds baby switches