Check Point to acquire Nokia’s security appliance business

Check Point 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.

Nokia’s security appliance business provides purpose-built security platforms optimized for Check Point firewall, virtual private network (VPN) and unified threat management (UTM) software. About 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies have bought Nokia’s security platforms. More than 220,000 Nokia appliances have been installed with over 23,000 customers worldwide.

Check Point has a broad range of security gateways, available as software as well as Check Point’s UTM-1 and Power-1 dedicated appliances. More than 700,000 Check Point security gateways have been licensed with over 100,000 customers worldwide. The Check Point customer base includes 100 percent of Fortune 100 and 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies.

The agreement between Check Point and Nokia is expected to close in the first quarter of 2009 subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Further details of the transaction are not being disclosed at this time. As always, Checkpoint has published a FAQ on the acquisition.