Joaquín Reixa, director general of Check Point in Spain and Portugal

1. What projects does Check Point currently have up and running in Spain?

Check Point Ibérica is one of more than 60 Check Point subsidiaries around the world. Our work involves the sale and marketing of IT security technologies, and the provision of backup and support for our established clients.

In this country we currently lead the segment of large accounts, backed by one of the most specialized and wide-ranging integrator networks on the market. In fact our solutions are installed in nearly all the 1,000 largest Spanish companies to protect their incoming and outgoing (gateway) communications as well as their workstations and internal computer networks.

The goal of the new protection and prevention technologies Check Point regularly launches on the market is to provide our users with robust security, which includes more and more fields and is increasingly simply to implement and administrate.

2. What are the company’s plans in the country in the short and medium terms?

One of the main tasks in Check Point is providing the same security mechanisms currently employed in large corporations to small and medium sized Spanish enterprises.

Smaller companies such as these have traditionally suffered from not employing specific IT security staff and have viewed this type of technology as excessively sophisticated for their requirements. Their needs for prevention and protection however, differ very little from those of large companies. As a result, if we are capable of providing the same security systems adapted to their size, but with the same level of protection and the same easy administration, we will have provided these businesses with true added value.

In order to meet this objective, Check Point is recruiting integrators that are smaller than the ones we normally work with, and training and providing them with the necessary tools to provide these businesses with optimum services.

Nevertheless, the presence of Check Point is becoming increasingly strong in specific areas, such as Catalonia, where we recently took on another member of staff for the team.

3. What is the role of R&D in a company such as yours?

R&D in a company such as ours is at the heart of the business. We are a highly technological company working in a field such as IT security. We can never rest on our laurels as far as research into new methods of prevention and protection of companies is concerned.

And it is increasingly necessary to have a global outlook on security. A Firewall and an antivirus are no longer valid methods for protection against new threats. A whole series of protection technologies are now required, which work jointly and are able to communicate with each other.

We are talking about IPS, DLP, web and mail filters, VPN, etc. At Check Point we invest large amounts of money every year in research and development into all these solutions. But we never lose sight of the fact that they must all work together and must be easy to administrate. Our “Software Blades” architecture therefore enables our clients to select the functionalities they really need at any time and with the flexibility of having them work in the same machine with no loss in performance.

4. What is your relationship with the National Institute of Communications Technologies (INTECO) and what is your opinion of government initiatives of this type working to safeguard the security of the web?

We have a close relationship with the INTECO, as do nearly all the communications technology manufacturers, and we collaborate on actions aimed at improving the security of our networks.

INTECO plays a fundamental role in raising awareness and educating about the security risks in our networks both for private users and for companies. The “Security Observatory”, the “CERT” and the “OSI” are vital projects, which keep the user up-to-date on current risks and enable them to take suitable actions to counter them.

5. What do you think the future holds for the sector at this juncture?

The far-reaching economic downturn we are suffering at this time has undoubtedly hit the IT sector. There are however, two areas that normally come out stronger in times of crisis: storage and security. Many infrastructure and communications projects are put off until the good times return, but investment in the protection of the main asset (information) never falls.

In the long term it is clear if this situation continues, many companies in the sector will be involved in mergers and takeovers, especially those manufacturing very specialized solutions for small market niches.

As for services, the economic crisis is being felt to a greater extent. Many integrators are having to make cost adjustments, often meaning reductions in workforces, or the cessation of activities. We hope the economic recovery comes as soon as possible.