Industry analysts covering endpoint security, management and virtualization technology got a sneak preview of Symantec’s endpoint control strategy during the Industry Analyst Forum on Endpoint Control, held Monday, March 9.
The forum, held conjunction with ManageFusion, attracted 26 top-tier analysts who came together to hear product management discuss current and future Symantec solutions for controlling the endpoint. Symantec’s Vice President of Product Marketing, John Magee, hosted morning presentations by Steve Morton, vice president of enterprise management, Art Gilliland, vice president of enterprise security and Ken Berryman, vice president of strategy. The morning also featured demo sessions of various solutions and scenarios, including workflow automation for client management, and concluded with a panel Q&A session with the keynote presenters.
The afternoon featured individual and small group meetings with product managers before concluding with a lively Q&A session with Symantec COO Enrique Salem.
Since controlling the endpoint is a relevant and current topic for the industry analysts covering Symantec, the attendees welcomed this one-day concentrated format.
“I don’t think this event could be any more valuable,” said Natalie Lambert, of Forrester Research. “It was perfect content for my coverage area.”
“The alignment of strategies across security, management, storage and virtualization was truly differentiating,” said Scott Crawford, of Enterprise Management Associates.
The smaller, scaled-back “forum” format was an experiment for Symantec’s AR team. “Instead of holding a large Worldwide Industry Analyst Conference in conjunction with VISION as in the past, we saw an opportunity to adapt to the economic conditions and design a few small analyst meetings that focused on very specific solution, “ said Dean Whitehair, senior director of worldwide AR. “Since this seemed to be a successful format for both analysts and our executives, we will try more.”