MUMBAI
JANUARY 17, 2007

Symantec recently announced its partnership with OEM Zenith computers. Symantec's Norton Internet Security (NIS) Suite 2007 will be bundled with Zenith computers and laptops. All the Zenith computers and laptops will be available with one year licensed copy of NIS 2007.

"The desktops will be priced from Rs 12500 onwards whereas the laptops will be available at Rs 27,000. This means that the cost of software will be absorbed by us and the end-user will not have to shell out extra money from his pocket," said Raj Shroff, CMD, Zenith Computers.

"This is a maiden initiative in Asia Pacific region as the systems come bundled with one year licensed copy of NIS 2007. Before this there have been instances where we have offered 90 days licensed copy with the vendor. This is first time that one full year license is available," informed Ajay Verma, Director-Channel and Alliances.

"In future we also plan to have more such OEM partnerships in India. We wish to pursue our relations with computing industry leaders to become inbuilt PC component. This will in a way help us retain and leverage our customer base with our new products and services," said Michael Yell, Director consumer/OEM channels.

"We see this initiative as a tool to increase awareness about the increasing security threats. This is good opportunity to secure your Internet experience rather than just buying pirated copies of the AVs that comes with regular updates," added Verma.

Symantec already has tie-up with leading OEM like HP, Lenovo in USA for a period of three months. Symantec also claims that there is a two percent drop in the piracy rate in last year in their half-yearly survey.

"We are looking forward to our alliance as the strength of the product and strength of Zenith's image we are confident that it is fruitful for both of us," said Verma.

The NIS 2007 loaded Zenith PCs are expected to hit the market by the end of January 2007.

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