Check Point - History

History

Check Point was established in Ramat-Gan, Israel in 1993, by Gil Shwed (Chairman and CEO as of 2012), Marius Nacht (Vice Chairman as of 2012) and Shlomo Kramer (who left Check Point in 2003). Shwed had the initial idea for the company’s core technology known as stateful inspection, which became the foundation for the company's first product, FireWall-1; soon afterwards they also developed one of the world’s first VPN products, VPN-1. Shwed developed the idea while serving in the Israel Defense Forces, where he worked on securing classified networks.

Initial funding of US$400,000 was provided by venture capital fund BRM Group.

In 1994 Check Point signed an OEM agreement with Sun Microsystems, followed by a distribution agreement with HP in 1995. The same year, the U.S. head office was established in Redwood City, California.

By February 1996 the company was named worldwide firewall market leader by IDC, with a market share of 40 percent. In June 1996 Check Point raised $67 million from its initial public offering on NASDAQ.

In 1998 Check Point established a partnership with Nokia, which bundled Check Point's Software with Nokia's computer Network Security Appliances.

During the first decade of the twentyfirst century Check Point started acquiring other IT security companies, acquiring Nokia's network security business unit in 2009.