Symantec Corporation has launched the retail and corporate editions of the Norton 2000 Version 2.0 in India. Norton 2000 is an effective solution for Y2K related problems on desktop and laptop PCs. It is an ideal solution for both large organisations and consumers to effectively address Y2K date issues on their PCs and to safeguard the accuracy of their data. The product can significantly reduce the risks associated with the century-date change.

The retail version is an ideal Y2K-fixing tool for small and medium businesses, home users and the SOHO (small office-home office) segment in general. Norton 2000 takes care of non-compliance in the three critical areas of data files, application programs and BIOS (or 'basic input output system' -- the system input-output processor that comes along with the system clock).

The corporate edition, does these things, and also includes enhanced administrative features, plus improved databases options. Norton 2000 also minimises the risk associated with downloading from or uploading data to network servers.

Both versions of Norton 2000 feature a "fix assistant" which helps to automate repetitive and tedious tasks involved in the effort of fixing Y2K problems.

"While the corporate IT world has been focused on mainframes, it has neglected the Y2K PC time bomb ticking away. Only now companies are turning their attention to the Y2K compatibility of the desktop PC. Small businesses and home users are also beginning to question the risk the century changeover could have for their PCs and important data," says Kerrie-Anne Turner, country manager - India, of Symantec Corporation.

"In India, the millennium bug is as big a threat to single users and small companies as much as it is to large corporations such as government organisations, public sector enterprises, banks and financial institutions," adds Ms Turner. "With Norton 2000, customers have a solution they can trust to deal withY2K problems effectively."

Features at a glance

• A flexible scanning and reporting option to allow an organisation to compile reports with different levels of detail and set its own criteria for measuring risk.
• The corporate version can associate machine names and user names for easy identification in reports.
• The results of the scan are sorted on severity, issues, errors and notes with the option of detailed or condensed reporting
• Norton 2000 scans Excel, Access, Paradox, dBase, Lotus, Quattro Pro files. It identifies, priorities and reports on date calculation anomalies in spreadsheet cells and formulas, database fields and forms text.
• Unformatted files or files with formats unknown to Norton 2000 are examined with a generic text date scanner.
• Users can expand all two-year dates in a spreadsheet to four digits within a 100-year window that the user specifies.
• The BIOS test checks the ability of the system to provide accurate date as the clock rolls over from 31 December 1999 to 1 January 2000.

Pricing and availability

The Norton 2000 Corporate Edition is available now from authorised resellers. A 100-user licence is Rs. 2,600 per node. Volume discounts are available.

The Norton 2000 Retail Edition has an estimated retail price of Rs. 2,035. Symantec is offering free upgrades to customers using Norton 2000 1.0. Users can get information about the upgrade on the web-site www.symantec.com.

More details can be obtained from Symantec's distributors, Godrej Pacific Technology Ltd at Mumbai (phone 5182431/41)