"This partnership represents our commitment to shift more of our R&D effort to India. We will continue to evaluate opportunities in the Indian market in order to maintain high standards of our products," said Symantec Asia-Pacific vice-president Garry Sexton.

Under the arrangement, TCS will work to expand Norton AntiVirus for Notes onto the AS/400, AS/390, AIX and Solaris operating systems. The popular tool is available only on Microsoft and Apple platforms. TCS is researching methods for porting all existing Symantec applications onto these operating systems. Once the most suitable solution is established, TCS will also be responsible for further development of these applications which will be for global availability.

Symantec will also set up its own direct sales and marketing office in India, in additionto appointing Godrej Pacific Technologies as its first and sole distributor in the country. The latter's wide reach through its channel partners will make all Norton solutions such as AntiVirus, Norton 2000, Norton Ghost, Utilities, SystemWorks, WinFax Pro and pcAnywhere available in India.

While Godrej Pacific will provide its distribution network for licences to desktop PCs and provide technical support, Symantec's office will look at enterprises for pre-sales and post-sales support and education, Sexton indicated. The company is very keen to tap government offices and education segments, besides retaining the traditional Norton users by making its products available cheaper locally. Sexton pointed out that it will keep the selling prices substantially lower than those in the USA, "keeping in mind the economic realities''.

Symantec earlier had two tie-ups with Infosys and Sonata Software, both of which have lapsed and Symantec is not keen to renew those, he added.Acknowledging that a very large numberof pirated versions of Norton products have been available freely in India for last many years, Sexton said, ``Piracy increases brand awareness. That means increase in usage for us.''