In early December, InfoWorld Senior Writer Matt Hines had the opportunity to sit down with <A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/02/security-ceo-point-counterpoint_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/01/02/security-ceo-point-counterpoint_1.html">John Thompson, chief executive of Symantec, and David DeWalt, chief executive of McAfee,</A> to interview the leaders about the strategic direction of their companies and where they see different aspects of the IT security market heading in 2008 and beyond. Each of the individual interviews took their own course, but an intentional effort was made on the part of the reporter to ask the two executives about many of the same issues.

What follows are a sampling of the respective CEO's comments on issues related to the rise of data protection, consolidation in the security market, and competitive issues between the two industry leaders and their many rivals.