Symantec, Central Point Software announce merger agreement. (Brief Article)

Software utility companies continue to consolidate as last week Symantec Corp. and Central Point Software Inc. announced a definitive agreement to merge.

The deal will culminate in a stock swap valued at about $60 million and will bring together the companies' enterprise utility software products, which include Symantec's Peter Norton Group -- Norton Administrator for Networks, Norton AntiVirus for NetWare, and Norton Utilities Administrator -- and Central Point's Anti-Virus for NetWare, XTree Tools for Networks, and XTreeNet.

Although these products overlap, neither company would comment on the future direction of the packages or on any personnel changes until …