Fortinet: An Alternative Security Vendor To Watch

Fortinet is best described as a scrappy little security company that has carved out a tremendous niche in unified threat management (UTM) technology, low-end firewalls and, now, enterprise- and carrier-class security appliances. Some solution providers are even using the easy-to-deploy, easy-to-manage Fortinet devices as the backbone of their managed security services practices.

"Fortinet is a pretty good product," says Jim Bakic, director of sales at Milwaukee-based services company Innovative Computer Solutions. "They've got some issues, particularly integration issues around different product lines, but they're solid and they've got a great reputation."

Where Check Point operates primarily on the enterprise level and competes against Cisco and Juniper, Fortinet operates among a crowded field of innovative security companies that offer affordable alternatives to the heavy firewalls designed for larger environments. Standing alongside Fortinet are companies such as SonicWall, WatchGuard and Secure Computing. It's one of the beneficiaries of Symantec's withdrawal from the UTM market last year.

Fortinet's defining difference from its competitors is the architecture of its UTM appliances. UTMs typically include a stateful inspection firewall, intrusion prevention/detection systems, antimalware (antivirus, antispyware, antispam), and content filtering and VPN (IPSec and SSL). Fortinet built its own antimalware software, and its ASIC-based hardware provides the power to ensure efficient inline traffic scanning. Most other UTM vendors must partner with antivirus companies for their scanners, and the process power is based more on piled-on memory.

"The market is adopting the technology, and we're working with the channel to take advantage of that trend," says Karl Soderlund, Fortinet's vice president of sales, Americas. Fortinet has a 100 percent indirect sales model.

Performance, functionality and price make a big difference among small and midmarket customers, solution providers say.

"Most of our client base doesn't want separate solutions for firewall, spam and filtering," says Paul Foley, a sales representative at TigerNet Systems, a Stamford, Conn.-based Check Point and Fortinet reseller. "Fortinet fits nicely into our clients with their all-in-one appliances. It gives you what Check Point can give you and more at the same price point."

Fortinet's technology has an additional benefit to solution providers. Because Fortinet developed its own antimalware technology, solution providers can reap more recurring revenue through antivirus signature-update subscriptions and IPS scanner updates.

Going forward, Fortinet is expected to make announcements that it will start to attack networking competitors by enhancing the Layer 2 routing and switching functionality of its appliances. This follows another trend being led by Cisco and Juniper to embed more security into Layer 2 and 3 devices.

"We're articulating what we have, and it's very exciting because the industry doesn't know a lot about Fortinet. We're developing a deeper network strategy and it's working," says Richard Stiennon, Fortinet's chief marketing officer.

Is Fortinet displacing the major security players like Check Point? Foley admits that few companies are ripping out their existing firewalls. Equally, few small and midmarket companies are installing new firewalls by the major vendors, and this is where Fortinet and its peers have an opportunity. Just based on the buzz I've been hearing, solution providers should take a closer look at Fortinet, a solid security alternative.