Check Point to set up shop in India

NEW DELHI: Provider of VPN and firewall solutions, Check Point Software Technologies is setting up its India office during this year in order to 'be closer to its Indian customers'. Check Point currently operates in the country from Singapore through its partners. Its partners in India include distributors like Select Technologies and Sri-Lanka based CNT with operations in India and system integrators (SIs) like Ramco Systems, HCL Comnet, Wipro Infotech, Tata Infotech, Datacraft and global partners like HP, IBM, etc.

Country Manager for Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, Singapore Kelvin Lim insisted that the company's presence in India would merely be to feel the pulse of the customer and to provide sales and logistics support although its partners would still undertake delivery fulfillment. 'Check Point is very happy with the technical competencies of its Indian partners and will therefore not venture into technical support to its clients. Besides it is SIs who are have designed the customer's network and would be best suited to resolve any technical issues,' he added.

The company however provides regular technical training to its partners holding at least one training session each quarter. It has already trained over 800 Indian engineers in its technologies. Being an VPN and firewall solutions company, its growth is directly related to the Internet penetration in the country. As such the company's operation is largest in Korea because of the huge Internet penetration. It has offices in Korea, China, Taiwan, Australia and Hong Kong. Now the company is also looking at huge growth rates in India as enterprises begin Internet based operations in the country. During 2002, the company's business from India stood at $10 million comprising one eighth of the region's revenue. This year also Lim sees revenues from India remaining stable.

Check Point recently launched its Application Intelligence product enabling enterprises to monitor its networks more closely. For instance, peer-to-peer applications like chat make enterprise networks vulnerable to attacks because it can create a hole in the security blanket. By installing products like Application Intelligence, the enterprise can monitor the applications in the network and block malicious data passing through these holes. Check Point is an Israel based company but with large operations in the US. Its R&D center is based in Israel employing researchers from all over the word. With 300,000 installations worldwide, the company holds about 62 percent of the global market share in anti-virus software.

(CNS)