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Technology Stocks : Check Point Software (CHKP) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ED PLOPA who wrote (1858)	3/23/1998 11:56:00 PM
From: George Sepetjian	Respond to of 7150

Thanks for the info. You seem more well-versed on call writing than me. I may seek your advice as time expires. I wrote them last year on the stock & they were called. Very lucky for me since the stock proceeded to tank from the high 40's to the low 30's. I'm hoping the stock parks itself at 39 7/8 at expiration. That would be the best of all worlds for me, but my cynical side says that the people who rig, I mean run this game will probably not let me have what I want. I see one problem with CHKPF contracts-That is that I doubt they have any chance of selling their product to the Federal Govt. It's highly unlikely that they would award contracts to an Israeli company for such a sensitive area dealing with security matters. Does anyone have any info to the contrary?

To: ED PLOPA who wrote (1858)	3/24/1998 1:30:00 AM
From: P.M.Freedman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7150

Monday , Mar 23, 1998 Sun-Thu at 18:00 (GMT+3) Ofek-Arena Tech Index Thanks to Analyzer? By Roy Shkedi, Meir Klein, Efraim Steinbruch The DOW Industrials index came into prominence last week, rising 3.5%, far more than the other indices. The Ofek-Arena High-Tech Index rose 1.8%, while the NASDAQ index posted a 1% advance. A fair number of firms, most of them high-tech, published profit warnings last week, which is why returns on the NASDAQ and Ofek-Arena indices do not match those of the DOW Industrials. The biggest advancers last week were the shares of Memco (26.1%), Check Point (13.6%) and New Dimension (10.1%). Outstanding downturns were posted by Galileo (13.2%), Orbotech (9%) and Teledata (8.3%). Galileo's backsliding may be due to ongoing disposals by parties at interest, while Teledata's fall could be explained by rumoured negotiations for the acquisition of the company or the partial transfer of ownership. Orbotech's downturn, on the other hand, has more to do with the company's activity. The company is associated with the printed circuits sector, and even though there are no reports indicating problems in its activity, profit warnings issued by computer and component companies heighten fears that the slowdown may also reach Orbotech. Also noteworthy among the advancing shares are Memco and Check Point, two of the world's most outstanding companies in the field of computer systems protection software, whose products are mutually complementary. Was their rise due to the Pentagon computers penetration affair, that is drawing such international interest? Check Point: Active Network Management The company is a leading manufacturer of security products for computer systems and information traffic management solutions. Check Point's principal competitor is international giant Cisco, which manufactures and markets (hardware) products for computer communications networks. Software solutions have an edge over hardware solutions, since software is easier and cheaper to update than hardware, and also because software solutions get a better reception from customers. Check Point's software is installed in SUN (Gateway) or NT computers, and no additional hardware boxes are required. Nevertheless, Cisco, which possesses huge financial and tremendous marketing power, is threatening the Israeli company. The flagship product that initially made Check Point famous was FireWall, but the company has since launched other products, and now regards itself as dealing in the active management of networks, a field that also includes a diverse range of technologies. A new product launched by the company, namely FloodGate, facilitates bandwidth management. Check Point has also announced that it has the market's sole complete VPN (Virtual Private Network) solution. The solution includes FireWall 1, the encryption of information on the lines and bandwidth management. As defined by the company, its solution is based on a combination of three technological elements: security, traffic control and system management. The security element is composed of a range of checks: network hook-up security, user identity and level of authorisation, securing of privacy and data communications integrity, reliability and level of performance, and the capability of managing the entire virtual private communications network. Check Point continues to develop and streamline its products, with more than one third of its personnel engaged in research and development. One of Check Point's keys to success, over and above the state-of-the-art technology of the products, is its marketing method, which focuses on sales to major organisations. The company has marketing and distribution agreements with leading companies such as SUN, HP and IBM. 35% of Check Point's revenues are dedicated to marketing (selling expenses), since the company realises that it is here that the dividing line is drawn between failure and success. Published by Israel's Business Arena March 23, 1998