Fortinet FortiGate Platform Wins Info-Tech Research Group "Champion" And "Best Overall Value" Awards For Next Generation Firewall

Evaluation Based on Market Share, Mind Share and Platform Coverage

SUNNYVALE, Calif. ― Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) - a world leader in high-performance network security – today announced the company’s FortiGate platform has received Info-Tech Research Group’s “Champion” and “Best Overall Value” awards for Next Generation Firewall (NGFW). The awards, published in Info-Tech Research Group’s 2012 “Vendor Landscape: Next Generation Firewalls” report, are predicated on market share, mind share and platform coverage. Info-Tech Research Group evaluated ten competing platforms in the NGFW market including Cisco, Juniper and Check Point, and Fortinet was the only vendor to receive these two awards.

“Champions must receive high scores for most evaluation criteria and offer excellent value. They have strong market presence and are usually the trendsetters for the industry,” said Jessica Ireland, research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group.

In addition to winning the “Champion” award, Fortinet scored a perfect 100 percent “Value Score.” The Value Score indexes each vendor’s product offering and business strength relative to their price point.

“On a relative basis, Fortinet maintained the highest Info-Tech Value Score of the vendor group,” Ireland continued.

With the introduction of FortiOS 5, Fortinet has enhanced its NGFW functionality within the company’s entire unified threat management (UTM) product line with a focus on three specific capabilities

• More control with network, user and device defined policy
• More security with integrated, in-line and cloud-based threat detection via content and behavior inspection for improved advanced threat detection
• Enhanced performance for Every Customer Environment

More Control with Network, User and Device-Defined Policies
Firewall policies typically rely on basic information such as the “Source” and “Destination” address as well as port number to enforce policies. FortiOS 5 has significantly enhanced an organization’s ability to enforce policies by incorporating both “User” and “Source” identities as well. A User can be identified through various authentication methods, including single sign on. That individual’s computer or mobile device can be indentified in an Agentless or Agent-based manner. Agentless refers to recognition based around device classification, MAC address and OS fingerprinting, whereas Agent-based refers to recognition through an endpoint security client, such as FortiClient.

More Security with Integrated In-Line and Cloud-Based Content and Behavior Inspection for Improved Advanced Threat Detection
Baseline content inspection through antimalware scans and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) provides a security foundation to help detect today’s advanced persistent threats (APTs) that target enterprise and government networks. FortiOS 5 adds a new cloud-based botnet reputation feature that delivers real-time updates to the FortiGate device’s ability to block outbound botnet communication, enhancing existing application control and Web content filtering systems. Behavioral inspection of the traffic by a new behavior and attribute-based heuristic detection technology helps to identify zero day or low-volume malware intrusions that other firewalls miss, and cloud-based submission process ensures rapid protection updates.

Enhanced Performance for Every Customer Environment
Customers’ network environments, including data centers, campus environments, remote offices and small businesses are all under tremendous pressure to achieve seemingly incompatible requirements: increased performance while increasing security. Fortinet delivers on these two essential criteria with the use of purpose-built processor technology to achieve unmatched performance and protection, at outstanding price-points for every market segment. These purpose-built processors eliminate the performance bottleneck that other firewalls experience, allowing FortiGate devices to deliver award-winning threat detection while keeping up with high performance, high volume environments. Fortinet’s custom “Content Processors” provide ultra high-speed content inspection for IPS and antimalware, while the company’s “Network Processors” accelerate network tasks such as Firewall or VPN. For distributed enterprise, SMB and remote office devices, Fortinet has designed a new version of its custom system on a chip (SoC), which incorporates multiple processor functionalities into a single cost-effective design that helps ensure the best price performance in its class.

“Fortinet invented the UTM market 12 years ago and has since remained a leader due to our ability to quickly innovate to protect against the latest network security challenges. The latest release of our FortiOS 5 operating system, which enhances the NGFW functionality in every FortiGate device, is a prime example of our continued innovation,” said Ken Xie, founder and CEO for Fortinet. “In addition, through our technological advancements, we are able to give our customers better security management and increased network performance while lowering their total cost of ownership and simplifying their network.”