"Sometimes I like to think of Symantec as an elephant," said Angela Tucci, Symantec’s chief strategy officer, over lunch at London’s Soho Hotel. "Depending on which side of the elephant you look at," she explained, "you get a completely different perspective of the creature."

Read the following interview with Angela Tucci, Chief Strategy Officer at Symantec on her views around Mobile, Cloud, Virtualization, strategic acquisitions and rebranding Symantec here

Some of the reticence around using “the Cloud” seems to have come from the question of whether it can be trusted – particularly when it comes to managing corporate data. Cloud has its risks, just like any architecture or approach, which need to be weighed up against the risks of running things in-house. 

I think there is a bigger question however, which goes beyond mere risk. Cloud computing came into existence as part of a natural progression in how we use technology resources. But this goes far wider than merely cloud. Two additional factors illustrate the broader landscape, namely how we are becoming more mobile, and how people are increasingly making their own technology decisions. 

This is not the moment to delve into these parallel trends, respectively nicknamed mobility and consumerisation. The point is that they are inextricably linked, and internet-based technology service delivery – aka cloud computing – is another...

With many organisations giving cloud computing serious consideration, a question we are often asked is, "Should we be putting our data in the cloud?" Organisations should be concerned about their data, wherever it is - it's a strategic business asset, after all. Indeed, this concern should extend to wherever the data is, depending on what it is and how it is being used. 

Each organisation is different and no blog post would be long enough to map out all the different risks and options, but we can get an idea of where to look for causes of concern. Here we separate risks out into non-scientific but nonetheless helpful categories of security, privacy, supplier and compliance. 

Security risks first, then. When we say data need to be kept secure, what we're really thinking is that malicious third parties can't get hold of it, to use or damage it in some way. Of course you need some kind of assurance that a cloud provider is protecting your...

Symantec is Platinum Sponsor of VMWorld 2011 in Las Vegas, August 29 – September 1

Join Symantec experts at this year’s VMWorld in Las Vegas and see what they have to say about building a virtualization strategy that moves organizations from static infrastructure silos to an automated, high-density cloud that transforms IT service delivery.

If you have any questions or would like to book a meeting with Symantec’s experts and Symantec’s Analyst Relations team please contact Phil_Nash@symantec.com, Esther_Kim@symantec.com or the Analyst Relations team at Analyst_Relations@symantec.com.

VMWare Podcast with John Magee
John Magee, Symantec Vice President, Virtualization and Cloud Solutions, discussed his session at the show,  Going the Distance: Virtualizing...