IT Vortex - Managed IT Services

Fortinet Intros SD-WAN Appliance, Inks More Secure SD-WAN Partnerships

Few companies in the exploding software-defined wide-area networking (SD-WAN) space have been as busy as security-centric Fortinet lately, as it introduced a new appliance and formed partnerships with Equinix and Amdocs.

The company touts its alternative approach to the typical scheme of organizations adding security to existing SD-WAN solutions, instead weaving in SD-WAN connectivity functionality into its “next-gen firewall.”

To that end, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company last week announced FortiGate 40F, a secure SD-WAN appliance based on its patented SoC4 SD-WAN ASIC for small and midsize businesses, emphasizing affordability, a small form factor and optional built-in LTE or WiFi connectivity to ease the deployment of Fortinet Secure SD-WAN in those smaller organizations.

The firm said its new solution addresses the unique challenges and limitations faced by those SMBs, further describing those needs with a quote of research firm Gartner, “These enterprises rely on a variety of business applications, with an increasing reliance on SaaS applications and a smaller branch footprint. A growing percentage show interest in migrating to internet-only services as their primary WAN transport.”

The appliance comes in three versions: FortiGate 40F for out-of-the-box deployments; FortiGate 40F with LTE for reliable connectivity anywhere; and FortiGate 40F with WiFi for Secure SD-Branch from a single appliance.

Organizations can manage the appliances with the company’s Fabric Management Center, enabling “do-it-yourself” deployments with zero-touch deployment and configuration.

Also last week, Fortinet announced a partnership with Equinix, a global interconnection and data center company, to add the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to that company’s Network Edge solution, described as providing virtual network services that run on a modular infrastructure platform, optimized for instant deployment and interconnection of network services.

“The addition of Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to Network Edge allows Equinix to empower enterprise customers with a cloud on-ramp solution across multiple public clouds with full-featured SD-WAN that is scalable from mid-market to large distributed enterprises,” Fortinet said in a statement. “With Fortinet Secure SD-WAN now available via Network Edge on Platform Equinix, enterprise customers are able to resolve latency challenges while accessing multi-cloud applications and optimize their cloud connectivity without compromising on security.”

Following up on that partnership announcement just yesterday, Fortinet announced further integration of the flagship Secure SD-WAN with the orchestration platform offered by Amdocs. “The Amdocs service lifecycle management and orchestration solution empowers service providers to rapidly define, launch, fulfill and operate Fortinet Secure SD-WAN’s full range of next-generation firewall security services embedded with native and scalable SD-WAN capabilities,” the company said in a statement. “This combined solution, with the proper automation and orchestration layer on top of SD-WAN, provides critical service agility and ability to quickly and efficiently scale to a large number of customers and sites.”

Also, the company made waves recently with the claim that more than 21,000 organizations have signed on for Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, which was newsworthy because that is more customers than counted by industry leader Cisco, thus leading the claim to be reported by this and many other media outlets. Further exhibiting a keen sense of PR, the company last month announced Burger King Brazil had signed on as a customer, leading at least one media outlet to announce the news with the word “Whopper” in the headline.

Fortinet might be the vanguard of a growing trend, as security was reported as a top-of-mind concern for SD-WAN users in a recent survey by Cato Networks, another company that highlights built-in security in its SD-WAN solutions. “SD-WAN does little for security,” was one of the key takeaways from the report listed by Cato, which further said, “Although most respondents (66 percent) cite defending against malware/ransomware as a primary security challenge in 2020, only 37 percent claim their SD-WANs help protect locations from malware and other threats.”

Of course, security is always a primary concern among organizations in any industry using any technology these days, so look for more companies to join the security-first SD-WAN bandwagon along with Fortinet and Cato.

Written by David Ramal

Share this post

questions about our services?

Request a free consultation. Fill out the form and we will call you to answer all your questions



Tech Tips, Cyber Threat Mitigation, Cutting Edge Technology, Cost Savings and More!



 

IT Vortex, LLC is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy, and we’ll only use your personal information to administer your account and to provide the products and services you requested from us. From time to time, we would like to contact you about our products and services, as well as other content that may be of interest to you. You will consent to us contacting you for this purpose, by submitting the form.

Apply for this position

Fill out the form below and our hiring team will reach out to you as soon as possible



zoom-logo

We use Zoom extensively to meet internally and externally. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

wasabi logo

Wasabi is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

vmware logo

Our Datacenter is built on a VMWare architecture. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation. 

veeam green logo

Veeam is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Trend Micro Logo
Solarwinds Logo

Solarwinds is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Proofpoint essentials Logo

Fortinet is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

observe IT Logo

ObserveIT/Fortinet is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

NEAT Logo

We use NEAT extensively in our offices. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

mitel logo

Our telephone platform of choice. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

microsoft logo

Various Microsoft technologies are offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation. 

ingram micro cloud logo

Our distribution preferred partner for our technology offerings.

Fortinet logo

Fortinet is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform? We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

DTEN logo

We use DTEN extensively in our offices. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Dropbox logo

We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Dell logo

Dell servers are a key component offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Condusiv Technologies logo

Condusiv Technology is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform? We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Cisco logo

Cisco Technology is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform via DUO for MFA. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Barracuda Logo

Barracuda Technology is offered in our Cloud Hosting Platform. We are Certified Reseller, we have Certified Implementation Experts on staff, we provide architecture advisory services for a robust implementation.

Amazon_Web_Services_Logo

IT Vortex partners with AWS via VMware for the VMware on AWS offering that allows for cloud services fulfillment via AWS utilizing the same VMware products many companies already enjoy the benefits from.

ACTI Logo

Technology Reseller and Distributor, Certified Implementation Expertise with all ACTi products and services. IT Vortex has worked with ACTi for over a decade implementing security camera solutions for a multitude of industries with AI, Facial Recognition, License Plate Recognition, Loitering Detection, Cloud storage, and more.

questions about our services?

Request a free consultation. Fill out the form and we will call you to answer all your questions



microsoft logo

Name of the partner

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco

Security as a Service (SECaaS) by IT Vortex

Pricing Calculator

Choose a service, answer a few simple questions, and receive an individual quote for our services

User count by type

Fill out the form and we will call you to answer all your questions