Symantec has been getting it head smacked about in the press of late. But, I have to admit that they have some good news to report. Altiris announced today that they are being purchased by Symantec. Here is the text of the email that was sent out.
Today marks a significant milestone for Altiris with the announcement that Symantec will acquire Altiris. This is a great opportunity for two leading companies to join together and innovate in market segments as they converge—security, storage and systems management.
Today Symantec announced a definitive agreement to acquire Altiris for $33.00 per share in cash. The parties intend to complete the transaction as soon as practicable and currently anticipate the closing to occur in the second quarter of 2007. This is an exciting development for both Symantec and Altiris, and we believe a very positive development for Altiris customers as well.
Altiris will operate as a separate business unit within Symantec with the existing management team. We believe that being part of Symantec, a $5 billion company, will give Altiris immediate opportunities to address our customers’ evolving needs that would have taken us years to accomplish on our own.
With the convergence of IT operations and security management, we believe that the combined company will create a powerful software platform to address this growing market trend. In addition, we believe the combined companies will further help you to cut the cost and complexity of IT and security management and speed the delivery of new services.
The proposed transaction will bring together the strength of the fully integrated Altiris service oriented management platform with Symantec’s global leadership in infrastructure software protection that addresses risks to security, availability, compliance and performance. This will allow you to purchase—from a single vendor—market leading products in systems management and security that will be integrated into one complete solution.
You are the reason for our success to this point and we appreciate your support. As this exciting time unfolds, you have my personal commitment that Altiris’ support of you, our customers, will never waiver. I know this transaction will raise many questions with regard to how you will do business with Altiris in the future. We will work hard to get all your questions answered as soon as possible. Please realize that many of these details will not be available until after the transaction is closed.
As we continue to deliver on our business commitments to you, do not hesitate to contact your Altiris representative with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Greg Butterfield
President and CEO, Altiris, Inc.
[tags]Symantec Purchase, Altiris Acquistion, Security Consolidation[/tags]
