Symantec joins anti-malware testing organisation and launches telco security business with Huawei

Symantec Corp. and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. have commenced a joint venture, announced in May 2007. The new company will develop and distribute security and storage appliances to global telecommunications carriers and enterprises.

The joint venture company is headquartered in Chengdu, China, with Huawei owning 51 percent and Symantec owning 49 percent. John W. Thompson, chairman and chief executive officer of Symantec, has been named chairman of the board and Ren ZhengFei, chief executive officer of Huawei, has been named chief executive officer.

Huawei is licensing certain technology and Symantec is licensing certain storage and security software to the joint venture company. Symantec is also contributing US$150 million to the joint venture.

At the same time more than 40 security software technologists and anti-malware testers from around the world recently met in Bilbao, Spain to formalize the charter of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, or AMTSO. Symantec is one of the participants in this new organisation.

The formation of AMTSO has been driven by industry-wide concern about the increasing mismatch between what anti-malware technologies actually do, and the testing methodologies used to evaluate them. As anti-malware solutions become more complex, many existing tests are unable to evaluate product effectiveness properly, resulting in product reviews that are sometimes incomplete, inaccurate and misleading.

AMTSO is focused on addressing the global need for improvement in the objectivity, quality and relevance of testing methodologies. The organization also aims to promulgate universally adopted standards and guidelines for anti-malware testing.

According to its preliminary charter, AMTSO will pprovide a forum for discussions related to the testing of anti-malware and related products; develop and publicise objective standards and best practices for testing of anti-malware and related products; promote education and awareness of issues related to the testing of anti-malware and related products;