Exclusive: Symantec eyes government data strategy role

Craig Scroggie, Vice President and Managing Director, Pacific, has told IT Brief that he "hopes" Symantec will play a part in the recently announced Australian data center strategy.

When asked if he expected to be announced as one of the companies involved in the 15-year strategy, Scroggie replied, "I would remove 'expect' and inset 'hope to'. We work with the government collaboratively in many areas and I would expect that, based on our current relationships with the government, we would do what we've always done in the past and will certainly offer them our advice and hope that Symantec had a role to play in any sort of government strategy.

He continued, "We have a good relationship because, not only are we the largest security company in the world and the largest supplier of email and storage in the world, the government is a major client of ours. And they tend to work pretty collaboratively with us when it comes to architectural considerations.

"I do hope that we continue to do business with the government both in New Zealand and Australia. I think that our relationships are strong and we continue to be focused on investing in the government.

Scroggie used the recent healthcare initiative in the US as an example that shows how the firm had invested in something that is an "absolute first to market" that's going to "unquestionably change the way that the health service works around the world".