| General
Check
Point develops, markets and supports Internet security
solutions for enterprise networks, and service providers
(Telcos, ISPs, ASPs and MSPs), including Virtual Private
Networks (VPNs), firewalls, intranet and extranet security.
The Company delivers solutions that enable secure, reliable
and manageable business-to-business communications over
Internet Protocol ("IP") networks-including the Internet,
intranets and extranets. Check Point product offerings
also include traffic control/quality of service (QoS)
and IP address management. Check Point products are
fully integrated as a part of the Company's Secure Virtual
Network (SVN) architecture and provide centralized management,
distributed deployment, and comprehensive policy administration.
The capabilities of Check Point products can be extended
with the Open Platform for Security (OPSEC), enabling
integration with best of breed hardware, security applications
and enterprise software applications.
Check
Point was incorporated in 1993 and its address is 3A
Jabotinsky Street, Ramat-Gan 52520, Israel. Its telephone
number is 972-3-753-4555. Copies of this Annual Report
on Form 20-F and other documents incorporated herein
by reference can be obtained upon request from the Company's
investor relations department, Three Lagoon Drive, Redwood
City, California 94065 (telephone no. 650-628-2000)
or through the Company's website, www.checkpoint.com.
Industry Background
Information,
and the ability to access and distribute it, is a key
strategic asset in today's competitive business environment.
This need to effectively use and communicate information
as well as work more collaboratively has led to the
extensive deployment of network-based communications
systems (connectivity). Increased connectivity is in
turn increasing the need for technology to safeguard
and manage the access to information available over
these increasingly global networks.
Increase
in Connectivity
The
network computing market has undergone two major transitions
over the past decade, which have contributed to the
increase in global connectivity. The first of these
transitions was the migration of corporate computing
environments from centralized mainframe systems to distributed
client/server environments. The ability to access and
share information through client/server technology has
expanded the need for connectivity beyond workgroup
LANs (local area networks) to enterprise-wide networks
spanning multiple LANs and WANs (wide area networks).
The second major transition has been the widespread
adoption of the Internet for business-to-business communications.
Internet-based business applications have rapidly expanded
beyond e-mail to a broad range of business applications
and services including electronic publishing, direct
to customer transactions, product marketing, advertising
and customer support. The emergence of eBusiness increases
the need for and challenges in providing secure access
to information and applications.
At
the same time, these two major transitions and the need
for secure, managed communications, have led to the
emergence of virtual private networks, or VPNs, using
the public Internet infrastructure and associated protocols
and applications to share information and services both
within the enterprise and with business partners and
customers at low costs. As a result, businesses are
able to share internal information and to run enterprise
applications across geographically dispersed facilities
as well as enable customers, suppliers and other business
partners to inexpensively link into their enterprise
information systems. As Internet protocols and infrastructure
gain increasingly widespread acceptance for global communication,
new wide-area connectivity services continue to emerge
at a rapid rate, such as database access, transaction
processing services, audio and telephone services and
video teleconferencing services. This expansion of services
and applications is further accelerating the use of
networks as global communication systems. |
