Huawei Technologies and Symantec announced Monday plans to establish a joint venture company to develop and distribute security and storage appliances to telecommunications carriers and enterprises across the globe.

Headquartered in Chengdu, China, the new company will be held at a 51 percent stake by Huawei while US-based Symantec will hold the remaining 49 percent stake, according to a joint statement released by both companies.

Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei will contribute its telecommunications storage and security businesses, including its integrated supply chain and product development management practices to the new joint venture. Symantec will contribute US$150 million toward the joint venture's growth and expansion, as well as some of its enterprise storage and security software licenses, working capital and its management expertise, said the statement.

In addition, the new company will have access to Huawei's intellectual property (IP) licenses, research and development capabilities, manufacturing expertise and engineering talent which includes more than 750 employees.

"Huawei and Symantec agree that we need to constantly innovate and develop new solutions to keep pace with the evolving risks and increased availability requirements facing service providers and enterprise customers," John Thompson, Symantec's chairman and CEO, said in the statement.

"Huawei's world class product development and manufacturing capabilities,joined with Symantec's leading edge security and storage software technologies will offer unique solutions that will give customers more confidence that their systems are secure and available," Thompson added.

The deal is expected to be completed late-2007, pending required regulatory and governmental approvals.

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