Any news on Sygate's future?

[Hyperion]

Hi.Since Symantec bought Sygate,i ve heard various rumours.Does anyone know anything new?Is the development going to continue with new versions?Or maybe the free version is the only that will be cut?

Thanks

[ronjor]

-{ Quote: "Over time, Symantec will integrate Sygate's client software into its own desktop client and fold policy management functionality from Sygate into existing policy management products, De Santis said." }-

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1848935,00.asp

[Kerodo]

Wow, that doesn't sound good. Looks like the old Sygate we all knew and loved is gone for good then.

[Hyperion]

Yeah,sad,thanks Ronjor.Seems the tale of an announced death.Found this one also:

News Release

Symantec Completes Sygate Acquisition

CUPERTINO, Calif. - Oct. 10, 2005...

...Symantec will continue to sell the current Sygate solutions under the Sygate brand. In the next six months, the company expects to rebrand the next version of the products and include additional functionality. Thereafter, Symantec plans to integrate the Sygate technology into the company's existing enterprise security products...
http://www.symantec.com/press/2005/n051010c.html
-------------------------------------------------

[mercurie]

:'( It is a shame. I finally got around to using it about the sametime it was bought out. Read about the buy out :P and moved on to another product. :(

[Kerodo]

Sygate was my first firewall, so I have some fond memories of it.. Would be nice if they did continue to work on it under the Sygate name for a while, maybe fix the proxy issue and a few other things, before it loses it's identity completely..

[lotuseclat79]

Contrary to the doomsayers of Sygate technology, when I read the link from Ronjor, I try not to allow the opinions of others as reflected in the previous posts of this thread to cloud any judgments about what will or will not happen to it.

Reading between the lines, Symantec will definitely benefit from Sygate's firewall experience as it transitions from AtGuard's (not best of breed) firewall that it has been bundling into its Enterprise software security solution.

An Enterprise software firewall probably has many more components to coordinate for NAC than a home-users firewall depending on the home-LAN setup if there is one.

IMHO, it is best to not prejudge whether this or that will happen just because the "big bloater" bought out Sygate's technology. If when all is said and done, Symantec can get to a leaner/meaner streamlined technology offering at the Enterprise level - it is specious to conclude that a different product stream targeted for the home-user will be aversely affected.

Wait and see is the best stance to adopt until new products roll out and can be put to the test. The current benefit of Sygate's Personal Firewall is an asset, and it would be foolhardy to take an axe to it by Symantec - i.e. the reason one buys out another company is to plug a hole in product coverage which Symantec sorely did not have in NAC.

-- Tom

P.S. I do not now nor ever have used any of Symatec's products.

[Kerodo]

It surely would be nice if Symantec released Sygate a few more times with some fixes, like the proxy issue, under the old Sygate name, before proceeding to ruin it. That would be a welcome event.

But IMHO nothing good can come of it. Symantec is The Bloat King. How can we expect them to do anything good to Sygate in the future? It would be completely out of character..

[trickyricky]

-{ Quote: "
But IMHO nothing good can come of it. Symantec is The Bloat King. How can we expect them to do anything good to Sygate in the future? It would be completely out of character.." }-
They have already made their position abundantly clear as quoted above and also here:

----------
CUPERTINO, Calif. - Oct. 10, 2005...

...Symantec will continue to sell the current Sygate solutions under the Sygate brand. In the next six months, the company expects to rebrand the next version of the products and include additional functionality.
----------

I'm sure they will "improve" it to be a 150Mb setup file which installs an additional 56 background processes, changes the recycle bin to be "Norton Protected Firewalled Recycle Bin" and finds it necessary to update the application twice daily with 17 separate components. Not that I'm a fan of Symantec, you understand...