U.S. Internal Revenue Service Standardizes on Symantec Solutions

CUPERTINO, Calif. - Dec. 14, 1999 - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has standardized on Symantec solutions; purchasing 130,000-seat licenses each of Norton AntiVirus, Norton Speed Disk and Norton Ghost. In addition, the agency purchased 5,000-seat licenses each of Norton Utilities and pcAnywhere. The IRS will use the Symantec products to keep their Windows-based computing environment running at peak performance which, in turn, increases end-user productivity and results in improved service to IRS constituents.

"The IRS takes a very proactive approach to maintaining the health and productivity of its critical systems and data," said David T. Lawson, senior project manager, end user computer operations for the U.S Internal Revenue Service. "By integrating proven tools into our enterprise computing environment, we are effectively safeguarding our ability to operate at the highest levels of functionality both today and tomorrow."

The IRS will use Norton AntiVirus as part of their overall suite of defenses to guard against viruses and other malicious code at all entry points, including e-mail attachments and Internet downloads. Norton AntiVirus is built on sophisticated and powerful detection technologies such as Striker/Striker32, Bloodhound as well as delivery mechanisms such as Scan and Deliver, LiveUpdate, and NAVEX. Together, these and other technologies will protect IRS workstations and servers from viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, password stealers, and malicious code in ActiveX controls and Java applets, thereby preventing the downtime and lost productivity that result from the infection and spread of destructive code.

Norton Speed Disk, the most efficient and manageable disk optimization tool, will enable IRS staff to increase the performance and reliability of their Windows workstations without incurring high costs. Because Norton Speed Disk defragments and optimizes systems, it obviates the need to buy and install additional disk space by making better use of existing space. In addition, by optimizing hard drives and speeding system performance, Norton Speed Disk enables users to maintain high levels of productivity.

With Norton Ghost, IRS system administrators can dramatically reduce the time they spend reconfiguring, cloning, or restoring PCs. Norton Ghost is the industry's premier tool for PC rollout, hardware migration, and disaster recovery. It leverages the proven cost-effective process of cloning a large number of PCs within a networked enterprise environment and extends those benefits even further by including remote management and post-cloning configuration capabilities. As a result, Norton Ghost will reduce the drain on IRS resources, thereby decreasing costs while helping IRS employees improve their productivity.

With the installation of Norton Utilities on 5,000 Windows workstations, the IRS gains an easy-to-use solution for fixing, maintaining, and optimizing PCs. Norton Utilities provides IRS staff with crash protection, registry repair and optimization, disaster recovery, and more in a comprehensive yet simple package. With this tool, IRS employees can not only find, but fix many system problems without the assistance of the helpdesk.

The purchase and use of pcAnywhere on 5,000 Windows workstations gives the IRS a remote control and file transfer system for mobile users and the IT professionals who support them. pcAnywhere will enable IT professionals at the IRS to effectively address the security, administration, and cost issues associated with supporting a growing mobile user community.

About Symantec
Symantec, a world leader in Internet security technology, provides content security solutions to enterprise organizations and helps companies manage and support workforces that use computers and other mobile devices.

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