Huawei Symantec Technologies Co. Ltd. (Chinese: 华为赛门铁克科技有限公司; pinyin: Huáwéi Sàiméntiěkè Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī) was a developer, producer and supplier of network security, storage and computing solutions. The joint venture was disbanded in March 2012 [1][2] when Symantec sold its share in the company to Huawei, which is headquartered in Chengdu, China.[3][4] Huawei originally owned 51% of the company, while Symantec owned 49%.
Huawei is a Chinese-based company, while Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) is a US-based corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.[5]
History
2000: Huawei started R&D in the security technology field; Symantec is a provider of antivirus and security software
2004: Huawei started R&D in storage technology field
2007 (May): Huawei and Symantec sign an agreement for the establishment of a joint venture in order to provide end-to-end solutions in the domain of converging network, security, and storage and computing technologies.[6]
2008 (February): Huawei Symantec was established.
2012 (March): Huawei acquires the 49% of shares held by the Symantec Corporation at a price of about 530 million U.S. dollars or 3.4 billion yuan.
Technological convergence and R&D
Huawei Symantec is a holder of more than 300 patents in storage and network security field, and about 30 of them were accepted as formal technological standards.[7] Huawei Symantec's technologists participate in various standardization organizations, including holding chair and vice-chair posts.[8] More than 50% of employees are engaged in research and development activities with labs located in Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou in China, and in India.[9]
Acquisition by Huawei
On November 14, 2011, Beijing Time, Huawei and Symantec reached an agreement on a transaction where Huawei acquired Symantec's 49% stake in Huawei Symantec Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Symantec) for US$530 million.[10] Upon closing the agreement gave Huawei full ownership of Huawei Symantec. Huawei Symantec and Symantec Corporation are two separate entities.