Israeli Internet firewall specialist CheckPoint Software Technologies Ltd based in Jerusalem and Redwood City, California, is going to the market, seeking to raise between $12 and $14 in an initial public offering of 4.2m shares. Goldman, Sachs & Co is lead underwriter. CheckPoint recently sold a 20% tranche of its stock to Venrock Associates and US Venture Partners which now hold 10% each. CheckPoint’s initial investor, BRM Technologies Ltd in Jerusalem, has 30%. No additional capital was raised in the process. Market research firm The Yankee Group says the firewall market will grow to $924m in 1999, up from $121m in 1995. International Data Corporation gives CheckPoint a leading 40% share of the worldwide commercial firewall market, with more than 4,000 units shipped in 1995. According to the report, more than 75% of all web server software shipped in 1995 is being used for Intranet servers, and by 1999, this number will grow to more than 91%. CheckPoint, which counts SunSoft Inc as its largest OEM to date, will today reveal that Bay Networks Inc is to integrate the CheckPoint FireWall-1 software into its the BayRS software (Bay Routing Services) which runs on across its family of routers. The two claim it’s the first time a firewall has been integrated into a router. Bay Networks will resell and support what it’s calling BaySecure FireWall-1 as well as the FireWall-1 management console on Unix and Microsoft from the fourth quarter. BaySecure is a new enterprise-wide security framework that Bay will launch today. CheckPoint claims FireWall-1 supports 120 applications, services and protocols.
