Hydrasight analyst Michael Warrilow said the consumer-orientated focus adopted by Symantec reflects an underlying trend in the security industry - there is only so much growth to be had in the enterprise market to begin with.

Warrilow said however you look at it consolidation is a reaction to the limited growth opportunities for vendors in the enterprise market.

"As more consumer technology comes into the enterprise, vendors like Symantec will try and tackle growth from that angle because enterprise vendors are responding to limited growth in the enterprise market," Warrilow said.

"Microsoft is now offering consumer antivirus, HP earns a hell of a lot of money from consumer orientated technology like cameras and PDAs and the like.

"Symantec, possibly more than most vendors, has a history and pedigree in the consumer space and understands the needs of that market. Even SAP [AG] is now realizing you cannot strip down an enterprise product, take a zero off the price and then sell into the SMB (small and medium-sized business) market."