Event
Summary
CheckPoint Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP)
and Nokia (NYSE: NOK)
on October 19th, announced an expanded partnership where they will promote the
Nokia IP330, IP440 and IP650 firewall/VPN appliances. This suite of security
appliances marks the first time a firewall or VPN product has debuted with built-in
high-availability and load sharing.
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Nokia
IP650
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Market
Impact
As
firewalls outperform all the security markets, with VPNs close behind, expect
the Nokia IP series of firewall/VPN appliances to command first round draft
picks from information technology teams looking to secure their vital infrastructure.
The Nokia boxes offer both firewall and VPN capabilities based on integration
of Checkpoint's Firewall-1 and VPN-1 products and Nokia's Internet appliance.
The Nokia IP Security Appliances are the first of their class to include built-in
high-availability and load sharing.
Previously, if an organization wanted to install a highly-available firewall,
they would have to purchase two sets of a hardware platform/operating system
combos, two firewalls, and install a high-availability package like Stonesoft's
Stonebeat on top of it. With the Nokia IP series of Security Appliances, the
operating system is built-in, and Firewall-1 and VPN-1 come pre-installed. What
was formerly achieved through a costly set of stand-alone products from multiple
vendors can now be achieved with a single device.
This
saves companies significant implementation costs. A common complaint that security
engineers and systems administrators have had with Checkpoint's Firewall-1 is
its complex installation routine. With Nokia IP appliances, this is no longer
an issue. Administrators and security engineers will now have more time available
to work on writing the actual security policy instead of figuring out how to
install software.
The
Nokia IP Security Appliances offer customers the capability of rapidly deploying
enterprise firewalls, and as a result, brings Ecommerce sites on-line safely
and faster. The 19 inch rack mountable unit is sold directly through Nokia and
through all Checkpoint resellers.
User
Recommendations
This announcement solidifies Checkpoint's position in centralized policy-based
security products and introduces Nokia as a formidable player in the firewall/VPN
marketplace. The scaleable product line is something that IT organizations of
all sizes will want to take into consideration before deploying an enterprise
security solution.