Symantec Lands Top Antivirus Vendor Title in Reseller Choice Awards

Canadian Resellers Rate Antivirus Vendors' Products, Support and Partnership in 14th Annual Survey

TORONTO, Ont. - October 8, 2003 - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), the world leader in Internet security, proudly announced today that Symantec has received first-place in the antivirus vendor category in the 14th annual 2003 Computer Dealer News (CDN) Resellers' Choice Awards.

"The Resellers' Choice Awards represent excellence in the channel," said Paolo Del Nibletto, editor, Computer Dealer News. "The award aims to recognize outstanding vendor/partner relationships based on partner satisfaction feedback. We congratulate Symantec on being named the very first top antivirus vendor in our Resellers' Choice Awards during what has been a year marked by increasingly complex Internet security threats."

For the first time in its 14-year history, Computer Dealer News added antivirus software as a category in its elite award program. The decision to include an antivirus software category was drawn from feedback from readers, the reseller community and the software vendors themselves. The new category reflects the state of the IT industry, where security has been catapulted to the forefront.

"Symantec is honoured to be recognized by the Canadian reseller community as the country's top antivirus vendor," said Kevin Krempulec, Canadian channel sales manager, Symantec Corp. "As resellers look to vendors to help combat today's evolving Internet security threats, Symantec prides itself on providing a strong set of security solutions to protect their customers." A randomly selected group of 10,000 resellers in Canada were asked to nominate their two top suppliers according to six criteria for each of their respective product areas. The survey included 15 different IT product categories. The six criteria were as follows: Range, Availability, Pricing, Quality, Service and Innovation.

About Computer Dealer News
Computer Dealer News (CDN) established in May 1985 as Canada's premier reseller publication can be defined as the most important source of information for the reseller channel. Published bi-weekly, CDN is designed to provide resellers with timely, comprehensive coverage of news, events and issues that affect their businesses. CDN's circulation provides unrivaled coverage of the reseller channel including value added resellers, systems integrators, consultants, dealers, software developers, distributors and manufacturers. CDN has devoted more resources than any other publication in Canada covering the news and events shaping the reseller channel.

About Symantec
Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 36 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com.

Symantec’s Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver. For more information on Symantec products or current promotions, contact the Canadian office at (416) 441-3676 or access Symantec’s Canadian Web site at www.symantec.ca. Symantec is an active member of the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST).

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please view the Symantec Press Center at http://www.symantec.com/PressCenter/ on Symantec's Web site. All prices noted are in US dollars and are valid only in the United States.

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