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CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES DOMINATES EUROPEAN MARKET

IDC Study Confirms Enterprise Security and VPN Market Leadership in Western Europe

Redwood City, CA - October 7, 1998 - Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., (Nasdaq: CHKPF), the leader in policy management solutions for IP networks, today announced that it has extended its position as Europe's leading provider of enterprise security and virtual private networking (VPN) solutions. The "European Firewall Market Study" report prepared by International Data Corporation (IDC), confirms Check Point's leadership position by measuring both booked units and revenues.

According to the study, the top seven vendors combined - Check Point, Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), Cyberguard, Axent Technologies (Nasdaq: AXNT), Secure Computing (Nasdaq: SCUR), Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) and Network Associates (Nasdaq: NETA) - booked a total of 12,664 firewall units in Western Europe in 1997. Check Point accounted for 61% of these units.

Additionally, for the first time, the IDC report broke out the 1997 firewall-based VPN market according to installed base. Once again, Check Point emerged as the dominant leader with a 64% share of the firewall-based VPN units installed in Western Europe by the top seven vendors.

On a pan-European level, "…both measured in unit and revenue bookings, Check Point came out as the clear leader among the seven firewall vendors tracked," the IDC report stated. "Measured in unit bookings, Check Point was followed by Cisco and Raptor [now Axent Technologies]. Measured in revenue, Check Point was followed by Cisco and distantly by TIS [now Network Associates]." The report further stated, "Check Point accounted for more than half of the installed base of firewalls in the entire region by year end 1997." IDC projects the total Western European firewall market to grow from $67.2 in 1997 to $590.5 million in 2002.

The statistics support the findings of another IDC report issued earlier this year, "The Worldwide Firewall Market, 1997," which noted the exponential growth of the worldwide firewall market in 1997 and again showed Check Point leading its competitors, with a 23% global market share based on factory revenues. In Western Europe, Check Point leads the market as well, with 31% market share based on factory revenues, nearly twice the market share of the nearest competitor, Cisco, with an 18% share. Check Point's market share is even more significant given that all of its revenue comes entirely from software, compared to other competitors, such as Cisco, which sell hardware-based solutions.

"Although the market remains strongly competitive, Check Point distinguishes itself by expanding its leadership position not only in firewalls, but also VPNs as well. We firmly believe that our customer focus and relentless drive to deliver the best policy management solutions continue to expand our lead in the market worldwide," said Deborah Triant Rieman, CEO and President of Check Point Software Technologies, Inc.

About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. is a leading provider of policy-based management solutions for IP networks. Through its Secure Enterprise Connectivity strategy, the company is dedicated to enabling secure, reliable, and manageable business communications. The company's products include the world's leading enterprise security suite, FireWall-1, the industry's leading VPN family of solutions, VPN-1, and the industry's premier bandwidth management solution, FloodGate-1™. MetaInfo, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Check Point, is a leader in network and IP address management software that simplifies the set-up, integration and administration of complex networks. The company has U.S. headquarters in Redwood City, California and international headquarters in Ramat-Gan, Israel. For product information, please call (800) 429-4391 or (650) 628-2000 or visit our web site at http://www.checkpoint.com.


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1998 Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Check Point, the Check Point logo, FireWall-1, FireWall-1 SecuRemote, FireWall-First!, OPSEC, INSPECT, VPN-1, UAP, FloodGate-1 and IQ Engine are trademarks or registered trademarks of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. Meta IP and Meta DNS are trademarks of MetaInfo, Inc. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.