TORONTO, February 1, 1999 -- As global markets expand and the economic borders between countries disappear, more businesses in North America are taking advantage of new opportunities in international markets. Operating a global business in multiple locations requires a tremendous amount of management expertise and skill. It also requires that the computer systems used to support corporate day-to-day and strategic business applications are not threatened by computer viruses.

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has recognised the importance of protecting its computer resources. Four Seasons, which was started in 1960 in Toronto has over 20,000 employees working at the 42 hotels and resorts the company manages in 18 countries around the globe. Combined, these hotel operations generate $2.1 billion in revenues in 1997. To safeguard the corporate systems, servers and the PCs running its highly-valued hotel properties, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts recently adopted the latest version of Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus (NAV) Solution Suite.

Symantec upgraded Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts’ existing contract to enable the company to install the latest version of its product on all of its NT and Novell servers, as well as its 3,800 personal computers. The NAV Solution Suite is Year 2000 compliant which ensures that the software will not be adversely affected on January 1, 2000.

"We wanted a software package that we could distribute worldwide which would work with all of our business applications," says Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts’ Corporate IT Manager Chris Henry. "We needed an anti-virus program that would cover our corporate IT operations and our local area network servers as well as the personal computers in the administrative and business centres at each of our properties around the globe."

Four Seasons designs, develops, markets and operates these hotel properties and uses servers and other computer and communications technologies to support these services. Because the local area networks at each property include the company’s corporate systems, viruses that infect a LAN could also be carried to the company’s central corporate systems.

As a result, a vital objective of the Four Seasons’ IT department is to identify and remove viruses in all of its personal computers quickly, says Henry. "In our hotels, we often have offices or business centres located on several floors. If there is a virus alert, the systems manager in the hotel needs to identify which computer is infected and correct the problem immediately."

"An ongoing challenge in operating business centres and offices for guests is detecting and removing viruses that are inadvertently introduced through a disk used by one of the guests on one of our PCs. The next user doesn’t want to find that he or she has picked up a computer virus." The NAV Solution Suite has virtually eliminated these potential virus problems because the latest virus definitions from Symantec are available on-line, says Henry.

"We required a product that would allow us to update software definitions without causing any technical problems after the installation. One of the advantages of the Symantec product is that updates on new virus definitions can be downloaded using the Internet from any location in the world."

"We have a resort on a small island in the Maldives with a population of 200 people which has the same access to the virus definition updates as the hotels in New York, Toronto and Hong Kong. As a result, new viruses can be detected and removed on location. Local managers don’t have to wait for corporate office to correct the problem."

Having access on the Internet has also eliminated the task and cost of distributing new virus definitions, says Henry. "In the past we would receive a single CD containing the updates which we then had to copy and distribute to all of our locations worldwide. The process was time consuming and costly."

Internet access to new virus definitions is not the only feature that attracted Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to the Symantec product. Another component of the NAV Solutions Suite and an important application for the hotel chain is inclusion of Norton AntiVirus for Lotus Notes which easily integrates with Four Seasons’ Lotus Notes environment and its e-mail network.

The new system is also easy to install, Henry adds. "One of the special features of the NAV Solutions Suite is that it comes with a solution CD that includes all of the required installation instructions and software on one disc." The availability of technicians at Symantec’s Anti-Virus Research Centre (SARC) to develop repair routines for unusual viruses not covered by the current definitions also guarantees a high-level of customer support.

All of these Symantec product features and customer services are available to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts existing properties and the additional 17 properties that will be added to the company’s portfolio by the end of the year 2001. As the company expands into new markets, it is confident that is has taken the steps necessary to ensure that its computer resources and operations are protected from viruses.

About Symantec in Canada:
With 250 employees, Symantec's Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver. For information on Symantec products or current promotions, contact the Canadian office at (416) 441-3676 or access Symantec's Canadian Web Site. Symantec is an active member of the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST).

About Symantec
Symantec is the world leader in utility software for business and personal computing. Symantec products and solutions help make users productive and keep their computers safe and reliable anywhere and anytime. Symantec offers a broad range of solutions and is acclaimed as a leader in both customer satisfaction and product brand recognition. Symantec is traded on Nasdaq under the symbol SYMC. More information on the company and its products can be obtained at www.symantec.com.

Founded in 1982, the company's global operations span North America, Europe, Japan and several fast growing markets throughout Asia Pacific and Latin America. Traded on Nasdaq under the symbol SYMC, Symantec Corporation is based in Cupertino, Calif., and employs more than 2,000 people. Information on the company and its products can be obtained by calling (800) 441-7234 toll free, (541) 334-6054 or accessed on the World Wide Web.

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