Check Point to Acquire NFR Security; Expands Intrusion Prevention Capabilities to Fortify Enterprise Networks
Award-winning intrusion prevention technologies to augment unified security architecture and offer the highest level of protection against Internet attacks
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. and ROCKVILLE, MD -- December 19, 2006 — Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced the company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire NFR Security, a leader in real-time threat prevention.
With the acquisition of NFR, Check Point will enhance its technology leadership and raise the security bar in defending enterprise networks against today's most dynamic threats. Check Point's SmartDefense and NFR's Hybrid Detection Engine (HDE) will offer customers precise, real-time attack prevention by combining pre-emptive type-based protection (SmartDefense) with the highly granular and accurate attack detection provided by the HDE.
"This acquisition is an important step in Check Point's leadership strategy to continuously raise the level of security available to enterprises for protecting their mission-critical networks. It is part of our focus on two primary layers: network security as our core platform and our recently announced expansion into data security," said Gil Shwed, founder and chief executive officer of Check Point. "NFR's proven security solutions provide the most powerful intrusion detection and prevention technology we have found in the market. We will integrate NFR's technologies into our unified security architecture to provide the industry's broadest and best managed security solutions."
Total consideration of the transaction is approximately $20 million including acquisition related expenses. NFR, established in 1996, is based in Rockville, MD and has 22 employees. The acquisition has received U.S. regulatory approvals and is expected to close before the end of the year.
Check Point offers the industry's most comprehensive security solutions for businesses and consumers worldwide. Through Check Point's NGX™ platform, it is the only company to deliver a unified security architecture boasting integrated manageability and security across the full network infrastructure.
NFR's flagship Sentivist Real-Time Threat Protection solution goes beyond standard intrusion detection techniques and combines best-in-class technologies to protect against today's multi-faceted threats, while giving network administrators the real-time information and tools needed to manage and act upon threats. Sentivist protects against all manner of attacks, including intrusion attacks, insidious zero-day attacks, anomaly exploits, malicious code, backdoors, command tampering, polymorphic buffer overflows and more.
Check Point will incorporate NFR's award-winning, intrusion detection and prevention (IDS/IPS) technologies into the company's market-leading network security portfolio of firewall, VPN and security management solutions. This solution will provide the highest level of intelligence, adaptability and manageability. Check Point will also offer stand-alone IDS/IPS solutions by unifying NFR's product line with the company's InterSpect internal security gateway solutions.
Shwed added, "Check Point remains purely focused on the security needs of our customers. NFR's technology is an important extension to our unified security architecture and will enable us to more proactively protect against current and future threats with the industry's only integrated and fully-managed security solution portfolio."
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements appear throughout and are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the expected timetable for closing the acquisition and the expected future business of NFR. These statements reflect management's current expectations based upon information currently available to them and are subject to various assumptions, as well as risks and uncertainties that may be outside of their control. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including: the conditions to completion of the deal may not be satisfied or the parties may not be able to achieve all of the benefits of the transaction within the expected time frames or at all; Check Point may experience unanticipated expenses in connection with the acquisition; Check Point may not be able to successfully integrate NFR's technologies into those of Check Point and may experience a loss of customers, employees and business disruption; and other factors described in Check Point's Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2005 which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Check Point undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (www.checkpoint.com) is a leader in securing the Internet. It is a market leader in the worldwide enterprise firewall, consumer Internet security and VPN markets. Through its NGX platform, the company delivers a unified security architecture for a broad range of perimeter, internal, Web, and endpoint security solutions that protect business communications and resources for corporate networks and applications, remote employees, branch offices and partner extranets. The company's ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite and additional consumer security solutions are among the highest rated in the industry today, proactively protecting millions of people from hackers, spyware, viruses and identity theft. Extending the power of the Check Point solution is its Open Platform for Security (OPSEC), the industry's framework and alliance for integration and interoperability with "best-of-breed" solutions from hundreds of leading companies. Check Point solutions are sold, integrated and serviced by a network of thousands of Check Point partners around the world and its customers include 100 percent of Fortune 100 companies and tens of thousands of businesses and organizations of all sizes.
About NFR Security, Inc.
NFR Security is a leading provider of Real-Time Threat Protection systems that secure business networks against the four primary threat points of today – automated malware, information leakage, vulnerability windows and unsanctioned network changes. The company's award-winning Sentivist® security solution uniquely combines an array of powerful features including a Hybrid Detection Engine, inline prevention, a full functional firewall, and the Dynamic Shielding Architecture™, NFR Security's core technology that uses situational intelligence to dynamically protect network services and assets against compromise, to deliver highly sought-after piece-of-mind security. With performance level coverage from 20 megabits per second to 4 Gigabits per second, NFR Security serve customers worldwide in corporate enterprises, government agencies, service providers and academic institutions through an extensive worldwide network of channel partners and direct sales. NFR Security is headquartered in Rockville, MD. Additional information about NFR Security can be found at www.nfr.com.
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