Fortinet Reveals Wi-Fi 7 Networking Gear As Networking, Security Worlds Converge

The new FortiAP 441K Wi-Fi 7 capable-AP and FortiSwitch T102410 Gigabit Power over Ethernet switch join Fortinet’s integrated portfolio of secure wired and wireless offerings that have been fortified with the company’s AI-powered security services from day one, the company’s executives tell CRN.

Security market heavyweight Fortinet is bridging the historical gap between the networking and security spaces with a brand-new Wi-Fi 7-capable access point and switch combination that was built with security at its heart, according to the company.

“Delivering the best-of-breed security with networking is extremely important. And that is something we pioneered and we continue to do,” said Nirav Shah, vice president of products for Fortinet’s Secure Networking, Universal SASE and AI-Powered Security Services.

The new FortiAP 441K Wi-Fi 7 access point (AP) and FortiSwitch T102410 Gigabit Power over Ethernet switch join Fortinet’s integrated portfolio of secure wired and wireless offerings. The new AP and switch combination promises faster speeds and increased capacity to support bandwidth-intensive applications and wireless devices, as well as enterprise use cases like smart campuses.

The FortiAP 441K employs a Wi-Fi 7–enabled chipset from Qualcomm. The AP works with the 2.5GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz band, with the 6GHz band that transmits at the fastest speeds available being the newest and so far exclusive to Wi-Fi 6 technology. The AP supports wireless connections that are up to two times faster for the same configuration as previous technologies, Fortinet said.

“Wi-Fi 7 allows our partners or anybody in the channel to go out and talk to customers about their refresh cycles and about how they can better enable features and functionalities that they want to do, and ensure that you’re going to have better performance, lower latency, higher throughput because of what Wi-Fi 7 brings,” said Chris Hinsz, senior director of products and solutions marketing for Fortinet.

The AP’s faster data transfer capabilities are especially useful for bandwidth-heavy enterprise applications such as video streaming and collaboration tools.

“There’s now so much more on the network and when you pair that with [things like] the need for streaming video, you have to find ways to lower the latency, you need to find ways to ensure that there’s enough throughput for all the different pieces that need access,” Hinsz said. “We’ve seen a lot of customers now talking about, ‘My uses have just plain changed, and I need to refresh my network in order to enable the way we now use the network and my facility.’ That’s just a whole new world in terms of what people are doing today … and it’s probably going to only ramp up as the IoT world starts to further infiltrate these corporate environments.”

Shah called the new AP the “industry’s first Wi-Fi 7-capable AP for secure networking.”

The FortiAP 441K also uses 320MHz channels for a wider spectrum to improve data speeds and reduce latency for end users. In addition, it offers better load balancing and reduced interference to keep businesses online, Hinsz said.

The accompanying FortiSwitch T1024 will help enterprises that upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 take advantage of the standard’s full speed. The new 10 GE access switch with 90W PoE works in conjunction with the FortiAP 441K AP to ensure businesses get the most power and performance out of their wireless infrastructure, Hinsz said.

Security-Driven Networking

Shah said that unlike the competitors in the networking space, all of Fortinet’s networking gear is fortified with the company’s AI-powered security services because the company takes a platform approach to secure network infrastructure.

“When CIOs look at their network infrastructure, they are looking to reduce the complexity. They’re looking for a better user experience. And with that approach, not only we can reduce the complexity, but we can [also] allow them to converge and we can instantly provide a better user experience and better ROI,” he said.

Networking technology such as APs, switches and enterprise 5G is often deployed with a networking- and connectivity-first lens. However, networking and security are converging as more users join the enterprise network from remote locations and the attack surface grows, Shah said.

“Ransomware is targeting enterprise networking infrastructure. Ken Xie, the founder and CEO of Fortinet over the last two decades, has been talking about bringing security with networking on day one,” Shah said. “If you think about [how] networking and security products has been siloed, or security has been an afterthought, now, [enterprises] can instantly enable the best-of-breed security with their access points.”