Leading firewall and security vendor, Check Point Software
Technologies, has announced profits of $74.3m (£51.5m) for the
third quarter of 2001, citing decreased costs and strong uptake of
new products as driving the results.
The $74.3m figure - which translates to 29 cents per share - was up
from the $61.6m - or 23 cents per share - that Check Point tallied
in the third quarter of 2000.
Revenues for the quarter were $118m, up from $116m in 2000. Check
Point also said that it has $944.2m in cash and investments.
Despite the difficult economic times, Check Point posted good
numbers because "security is a very, very important market", said
the company's president Jerry Ungerman.
While security software companies were affected by the economic
downturn, "on a relative basis, they are doing much better than
other segments", he added.
During the quarter, Check Point began shipping its Check Point NG
product, the next generation of the company's security software. It
also introduced Provider-1 NG, a software package targeted at
carriers that allows them to manage multiple firewalls from a
single console, and it expanded the feature set of its OPSEC (Open
Platform for Security) security framework.
The company also said that the 11 September terrorist attacks
accounted for an estimated loss of between $15m and $20m for the
quarter. The attacks delayed by about 10 days sales that would
otherwise have been made immediately.
Though many security companies have credited the attacks for
boosting interest in their business, Ungerman said that the attacks
have had no immediate impact on customer interest in Check
Point.
With its software, hardware partnerships and cash, Check Point is
"very well positioned" for the future, Ungerman said. "We're going
to do very well, if not better, than anybody."