Symantec announced it intends to acquire Sygate Technologies, which makes network access-control and endpoint-protection policy-enforcement products, for an undisclosed price.

Symantec said it initially will keep offering Sygate’s line of policy-enforcement products - which can be used in conjunction with network equipment from Alcatel, Enterasys, Juniper and Nortel, among others - to control network access based on policy decisions which may include anti-virus or patch updates. In January, Sygate joined Cisco’s network admission control program to support the Cisco-led method of desktop policy enforcement.

Symantec intends to integrate Sygate Enterprise Protection 5.0, the most recent version of Sygate’s flapship software, into Symantec’s current endpoint-protection products, which include Symantec Client Security, after the acquisition of Sygate has been completed.

“This will be the primary product area in which we intend to include SEP 5.0,” said Brian Foster, Symantec’s senior director of product, noting that after combining SEP 5.0 and Symantec Client Security, SEP 5.0 will eventually be phased out.

Foster said SEP 5.0 brings a mix of additional host intrusion-prevention and host control capabilities to the Symantec Client Security desktop software, which includes personal firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware support.

Fremont, Calif.-based Sygate, a privately held company, was originally founded under the name Sybergen Technologies by Chief Technology Officer Chris Guo with help from venture capital firms that included Trident Capital, Trinity Ventures and MVC Capital. The company name was changed to Sygate five years ago, at the time John DeSantis joined as CEO and president.

Sygate’s customer base of 400 enterprises includes Prudential Financial and Diebold. No specific consolidation plans concerning staff have been announced, and the 200 employees of Sygate worldwide are expected to remain in Sygate’s Fremont office for the remaining year-and-a-half of its lease, said DeSantis.

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