And the new business and the products were going down. And despite that, because of the strength of the subscription and the fact that 80% of our business is already annuity, we’ve been able to meet the quarterly results every single quarter, which, again, don’t take it lightly. It’s not reveal, but I think that’s the strength of what we have. Last quarter, it changed. In the last quarter, you were still seeing the product revenues go down, but the product orders went up, and went up double digits. So I think that’s a good sign as we head into 2024. The indicators for the first quarter are positive, too. Keep in mind, in spite of an Infinity deal, the revenue recognition or the delivery of the product may take time because in Infinity deals — in a regular deal, you buy a product, you get it.
In Infinity deal, you sign up for three years and you get the product whenever you want. You don’t have to get the product from day one. And actually when — sometimes you even have the freedom to pick the products along the way. So some of that growth will take time. But the indicator is very positive. And if that trend will continue, that’s a very important kind of vehicle to drive and push the growth higher into the future.
Tal Liani: New customers, by the way?
Gil Shwed: Sorry, new customers. So new customers, we had a very nice jump of new customers, I think, in 2001 and — 2021, sorry, 2021 and 2022, a big increase in new customers. Not enough. It’s not a big enough percentage of our business, but it’s still good numbers. And by the way, it’s on all sectors. We get a lot of small customers, especially from some of our acquisitions, and we get hundreds of very large customers on our enterprise and very large enterprise business. In 2023, despite the tough economy and despite the fact that for three quarters, we had a decline in new business, we had it stable. So it didn’t — it grew a little bit, but not by a lot. And I hope and for 2024. First, I hope that, again, all the efforts that we are making and the investments that we are making are going to bear fruit on the new logos and new customers, and we are putting a lot of emphasis on that as a priority for the company.
So we are focusing the sales force, not just grow the existing customers, which is always very important, but also win new logos. That’s kind of one of our top two or three priorities for 2024.
Kip Meintzer: All right. Our last question is going to come from Shaul Eyal.
Shaul Eyal: Congrats, Gil. Maybe you can share with us some color on 7-digit transactions, government business, and with respect to the incoming CEO. Is there a prerequisite that he or she will be Israeli-based? Or could they also be U.S.-based?
Gil Shwed: Roei, do you want to start? You choose.
Kip Meintzer: You’re muted, Roei.
Roei Golan: Actually about the 7-digit transaction in the government transactions?
Shaul Eyal: 7-digit transaction and also maybe a word about the government federal vertical this quarter and for Gil about the incoming CEO.
Roei Golan: We did — so I would say that when we are looking on our large deals, the mega deals about the 7-digits to that, we did see a nice growth this quarter compared to last quarter, actually double-digit growth, both in number of deals and in dollar value. So I think we did see a very nice trend there also in Q4. It was part of the positive momentum that we mentioned. As for the government, I think we did well in the government. Again, not — still we can grow faster, we can do better there, but I think we are in a decent business also on the government side. And Gil, to your question around…
Gil Shwed: As I mentioned, first, I think we’re in the beginning of the process, but I will share with you openly my requirements and my preferences. I do like to conduct a global search and look for the best possible person, she or he, around the world. It is very likely that we’d like it to be somebody that will reside in Israel. Our headquarters is in Israel. The main hub for operations of Check Point is in Tel Aviv. So I would like the person to be in Tel Aviv. That actually increases the chances that it will also be Israeli. But — and of course, they will need to travel. I’d like them to spend a lot of time around the world, but that would be the preference. Again, global search, best person in the world, but most likely to — will require to reside and be part of the team in the headquarters.
Kip Meintzer: All right. Thank you all for joining us today. We appreciate you coming and spending the time with us, and we look forward to seeing you throughout the quarter. Thank you.
Gil Shwed : Thank you very much, everyone. Really appreciate it. Thank you.
Kip Meintzer: Bye-bye.
Gil Shwed: Bye-bye.
