Support for devices with ARM64 CPU

[johnrich]

Good afternoon, have you by any chance heard any news about the release of a version of Endpoint compatible with ARM64 CPUs such as Qualcomm Snapdragon?
More and more laptop manufacturers are making models with these CPUs: Microsoft Surface, HP EliteBook, Lenovo Yoga, etc.

[Chris_Atkinson]

To my knowledge sk176663 /  sk170777 remains current, please take this discussion with your local office / SE.

[PhoneBoy]

At this time, the only Endpoint blade supported on ARM is Media Encryption and Port Protection: https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk176663 
VPN is supported also, albeit as Check Point Mobile/SecuRemote or Capsule VPN: https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk170777 
Other functionality is not currently supported on ARM processors.
To help prioritize development of this, please contact your local Check Point office with your specific requirements.

[johnrich]

Yes, I have already proposed it on November 2024 to our local Check Point Office we will see what happens.

[G_W_Albrecht]

ARM64 market share Q3 24 was 1,5%, but mostly Apple CPUs. To maintain a new ARM EPS version is a huge investment. Are you forced to use these models ? If i need EPS on the laptop i have to choose one that supports it...

[johnrich]

ARM64 market will raise 13% in 2025 and 30% by 2026.

IMHO other factors that should whet Check Point appetite are:
Microsoft Security support ARM64 from 2023
BitDefender support ARM64 from 2023
Sophos support ARM64 from 2023
Eset support ARM64 from 2024
Avast support ARM64 from 2023
AVG support ARM64 from 2023
Symantec support ARM64 from 2023

[G_W_Albrecht]

So it will be enough if ARM64 is fully supported start of 2026. Maybe together with SmartConsole 😉

[PhoneBoy]

The ARM manufacturers themselves suggest they'll be at 50% market share in 5 years per the article I linked.
Having said that, those are projections.
Regardless, I assume we are monitoring the overall state of the industry here.
Specific RFEs from customers will also help prioritize development of this.

[PhoneBoy]

In terms of Windows PCs, ARM has about 11% market share currently: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/arm-pc-market-share-wont-rise-above-13-percent-in-20... 
That would suggest ARM-based Windows PCs are still relatively niche.

[G_W_Albrecht]

I fully agree. Also, people are rather not buying ARM64 or Copilot PCs but a successor to their old hardware...

[johnrich]

Meanwhile, in this past month and a half, I have had to tell the internal IT department of 3 customers that they cannot install Check Point Harmony Endpoint on their Microsoft Surface PROs.
Leaving them with Windows Defender and Check Point VPN Only...

[BarYassure]

Hi
@PhoneBoy is right with his comments below.
We definitely see the increased demand for ARM.
Our main focus in H1 is to improve the client performance (88.70 and future versions), so we decided to push our plans for ARM support.

With that said, we hope we could start supporting additional blades later this year, but we do not have a clear ETA at the moment.