Fortinet has released new secure SD-WAN offerings, including the industry’s first SD-WAN ASIC[1], to further enable organisations to implement security-driven networking. Fortinet is distributed throughout Africa by value-added distributor, Networks Unlimited Africa.
Stefan van de Giessen, GM: Network Security at value-added distributor Networks Unlimited Africa, says: “The software-defined wide-area network, SD-WAN, is a new approach to network connectivity that is designed to lower operational costs and improve resource usage. It is a specific application of software-defined networking technology applied to WAN connections such as broadband internet, 4G, LTE, or MPLS, connecting enterprise networks, including branch offices and data centres, over large geographic distances.
“SD-WAN allows network administrators to use bandwidth more efficiently and improves application performance without undermining security or data privacy. However, as organisations adopt SD-WAN for faster and more cost-effective connectivity, security remains their top challenge.”
The new innovations from Fortinet continue to empower customers to deploy security-driven networking with the following offerings:
* The industry’s first SoC4 SD-WAN ASIC;
* FortiGate 100F Appliance, delivering 10 times faster performance;
* New SD-WAN features with FortiOS 6.2; and
* Fortinet 360 Protection Services.
John Maddison, executive vice-president of product and solutions at Fortinet, notes: “The WAN edge is now a part of digital attack surfaces, but the edge of your network must never be a bottleneck. For branch offices, the ability to provide best-of-breed WAN Edge, including SD-WAN, WAN optimisation, security and orchestration, with optimal performance and security is critical to enable the digital experience. Fortinet’s SoC4 SD-WAN ASIC allows organisations to realise security-driven networking whether they have 100 or 10,000 branch offices.”
Van de Giessen adds: “These new innovations from Fortinet support customer challenges by addressing the following scenarios: digital transformation at the enterprise WAN edge; the reduction of WAN opex without compromising on application performance; and simplifying WAN edge operations and consolidating with SD-Branch.”
He clarifies the above points further, as follows:
* Digital transformation at the enterprise WAN edge allows users to avoid delays in accessing their applications, accelerating overlay performance, and providing low-latency and the best possible user experience for business-critical applications.
* Reduction of WAN opex without compromising on application performance: Fortinet’s new SD-WAN features allow customers to receive the best possible user experience and application performance at all times.
* Simplifying WAN edge operations and consolidating with SD-Branch: The Fortinet 360 Protection Services include overlay controller orchestration to simplify VPN deployment at-scale through a single-pane-of-glass for improved management. Additionally, Fortinet’s FortiManager is now available in all environments, including on-premises and multi-cloud, to provide centralised management for the WAN Edge.
“Fortinet offers network security products that deliver outstanding functionality, ease of implementation and excellent cost-benefits, and these new offerings continue to meet customers Fortinet’s continued commitment to security-driven networking innovation,” concludes Van de Giessen.