You knew it was bound to happen at some point. When Nokia announced that they were getting out of the security business a lot of people, myself included, figured that another vendor would be buying them. Nortel doesn’t have the money or financial stability to pick up a division of this size, Juniper is too focused on their switching business right now and is still trying to justify the money they dropped on the NetScreen acquisition, Enterasys wasn’t in the running, and Cisco didn’t care.
That leaves Nokia’s number one competitor for appliance based Check Point installations – Check Point. Check Point has the money, the support organization, and the know how to easily integrate the Nokia brand name of appliances into their current price list.
From the Check Point press release:
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Nokia’s security appliance business. The two businesses have collaborated over the past decade to deliver industry-leading enterprise security solutions. Building on this collaboration, Check Point will provide an extended security appliance portfolio developed, manufactured and supported by Check Point.
“As a pioneer in security appliances, the Nokia security appliance business has been an important strategic partner for Check Point and has helped us achieve early leadership in the security appliance market,” said Gil Shwed, Chairman and CEO at Check Point. “Adding Nokia’s security appliance portfolio into Check Point’s broad range of security solutions is the natural conclusion of our long collaboration, and will assure a smooth path forward for our mutual customers.”
I think this is a good move for Check Point. I hope, however, that they didn’t purchase the company just to bury it’s product line in favor of their own SecurePlatform appliance line. I’m also glad that my book will continue to be valid 🙂