Symantec, Computer Sciences team up

Symantec and Computer Sciences Corp. on Thursday announced an alliance designed to broaden CSC's security offerings and extend Symantec's reach into the corporate and government markets.

Under the arrangement, Symantec will provide CSC customers with security-monitoring services that range from intrusion detection to data analysis.

CSC, meanwhile, will provide Symantec access to a larger number of corporate customers and federal agencies--markets that Symantec has been cultivating.

"Leveraging Symantec's intelligence and security monitoring and management services with CSC's range of security expertise will enable us to truly deliver end-to-end managed security services," Grant Geyer, a vice president at Symantec, said in a statement.

Symantec's managed security services manage and monitor customers' networks, checking security functions such as firewall logs. When these customers' systems are under attack, Symantec notifies them and offers advice on how to secure their networks to prevent damage.

While Symantec's managed security services are part of its product portfolio for corporate customers, the security giant still receives more than half of its revenue from consumers. During Symantec's fiscal third quarter, consumers accounted for 52 percent of its total revenue.

CSC gets its revenue from large corporations and federal agencies.

Last November, CSC won a $52 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to provide evaluation, testing and support of biometric technology. Defense and homeland security contracts spurred revenue growth at CSC in its fiscal second quarter, which saw revenue rise 9.6 percent over year-ago figures. But in the most recent quarter, while CSC's fiscal third quarter revenue rose overall, its U.S. government business declined 4.1 percent.