Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) has released the latest version of its Norton 360 security software product, which enables end-users to securely and more flexibly access their data on PCs and smartphones.
Mimi Hoang, director of consumer products, Norton 360 at Symantec, said the version 4.0 release is designed to help customers be more flexible in the way they share their data, and interact with friends and family.
“From a strategy perspective, we focused on the things that are the most important to customers and we also looked at how customers are interacting with the online world and their stored data,” Hoang said.
Norton 360 now lets customers more securely and flexibly access their data from anytime, anywhere, using a Web browser on a PC or selected smartphones.
“If a user’s computer or hard drive crashes, the user can still access the data and restore it,” she said. “The user can go to any browser and type in the URL, n360.backup.com. From there, the user will be prompted to enter in Norton credentials, e-mail address and password. Once logged in, the user can access all of the data that was backed up.”
What’s great about this feature is that not only can data be accessed from any PC anytime, anywhere, it can also be accessed with certain mobile devices, Hoang added.
“We have a beta application for Android and there will also be beta applications for the iPad and iPhone available free of charge through online marketplaces in the coming weeks,” she said.
Users can also e-mail their friends and family links to large files, including photos and videos. The user can select a whole folder, or certain files and can also password -protect the data and choose how long the link is active for.
“If you’re not at home and you’re in an Internet café and you want to send something to your friends or family, you can now do this through a Web browser,” Hoang said. “We’re essentially unleashing the data so users can focus on secure and easy sharing with their friends and family.”
As far as channel opportunities go, partners can go out to their existing end-user customers and approach them for renewals and upgrades, Hoang suggested.
The product also now includes reputation service technology. This ensures real-time threat detection from security threats and risks such as spyware, viruses and worms. Symantec has also improved the overall performance of Norton 360, making it faster and lighter than previous releases, she explained.
Norton 360 version 4.0 is now available through partners and Symantec with an MSRP of $89.99 for a Standard Edition, with up to three users and up to 2GB of online storage. The Premier Edition has an MSRP of $99 for up to 25 GB of online storage. The renewal prices are $69.99 for one user (three PCs) and $89.99 for the Premier Edition. The latest version of Norton 360 also supports Microsoft XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.