By Tim Fitzgerald, Channel Director, Fortinet Australia
Fortinet’s new series of secure SD-WAN FortiGate next generation firewalls – used to provide secure network access to branch offices - represent a huge new opportunity for Partners to diversify their product mix, add additional revenue streams and strengthen existing customer relationships.
This is especially true for Partners in the managed services market. With the new secure SD-WAN FortiGate firewalls, you can install a unit at a client’s branch office, configure it in a matter of minutes and then manage it from your own facility.
Your clients keep their CAPEX budgets to a minimum, reduce ISP costs, benefit from robust operations and won’t have to worry about management overheads. And since the FortiGate’s combine switching and routing functions with market-leading security, the branch office only needs one box to manage WAN and LAN capabilities in a secure manner.
Secure SD-WAN is fast becoming a must-have for distributed enterprises that require fast and secure connectivity amongst their branch offices and corporate network. As a managed service, enterprises can implement SD-WAN with minimal upfront costs and even less operational overheads. Fortinet’s secure SD-WAN is 100% compatible with the Fortinet Security Fabric which means that, once installed, it can serve as the entry-point for further Fortinet security solutions.
Huge opportunity
For resellers…especially Fortinet Partners…Fortinet’s secure SD-WAN firewalls represent a huge opportunity. Why? They are flexible. The FortiGate DSLs are optimised to work in conjunction with NBN, Optus, AT&T, Vocus, Mactel and other local telecommunications providers as well as optional redundancy with 3G/4G. You can take next generation firewalls to the branch edge. With the very latest Fortinet FortiOS 6.2 embedded in each unit, the FortiGate DSL supports dynamic analysis and automatic mitigation to stop targeted attacks and is constantly updated with real-time threat intelligence from FortiGuard Labs.
They are feature-rich. Extensive routing, switching, wireless controller and high-performance IPsec VPN capabilities combine to consolidate networking and security functionality into one box. And they are low overhead. They feature Fortinet’s unique ‘single-pane-of-glass’ console that provides 360° visibility so that a client’s FortiGate and entire security fabric can be remotely managed by your team at your facility in real time.
Education, awareness and selection
With any new security solution, the buyer has to be escorted along the purchase path. It’s a process of education, awareness and selection. It’s up to you to provide your clients with the right information so that they can make the most informed purchasing decision. But, of course, you have to know what you’re talking about.
So we are doing our part. Fortinet is in the midst of a SD-WAN educational initiative with a series of Fast Track workshops covering secure SD-WAN, Fortinet’s Security Fabric, FortiSandbox and FortiMail. It’s a great opportunity to hear about the latest developments and learn how you can help your clients upgrade their defences.
Selling Fortinet solutions takes both technical expertise and business acumen. The value of the Fast Track workshops is that they present the Fortinet Security Fabric as a set of inter-related components that all fit together to provide end-to-end security. These workshops give Partners a ‘Fast Track’ understanding of the Fortinet product range, where they can fit into your client’s infrastructure and how you can craft these solutions into your product mix – including as a managed service – to significantly increase your revenue streams.
The next two Fast Track workshops are in Melbourne (20 – 21 June) and Perth (24 – 25 June). Bring your laptop. You can register at https://secure.fortinet.com/LP=6361.
Conclusion
Secure SD-WAN is just gaining traction as a ‘killer app’ for secure networking. It adds security and functionality over and above traditional IP-WAN, it is cost-effective and it integrates cleanly with the Fortinet security fabric. And the potential market is huge, especially as a managed service.
The challenge for you is to get up to speed on the solution itself, identify which of your clients could benefit the most in the short term and then show them how they can benefit. Let us know how we can help.
About Fortinet
Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) secures the largest enterprise, service provider, and government organisations around the world. Fortinet empowers its customers with intelligent, seamless protection across the expanding attack surface and the power to take on ever-increasing performance requirements of the borderless network - today and into the future. Only the Fortinet Security Fabric architecture can deliver security without compromise to address the most critical security challenges, whether in networked, application, cloud or mobile environments. Fortinet ranks #1 in the most security appliances shipped worldwide and more than 375,000 customers trust Fortinet to protect their businesses. Learn more at http://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, or FortiGuard Labs.
Fortinet solutions are distributed in Australia by Exclusive Networks, Ingram Micro and Wavelink.
For more Brand Posts in the Fortinet Security Insight series, click here.
About the author
Tim Fitzgerald is Fortinet’s Australian Channel Manager. As such, he is responsible for driving Fortinet’s continued expansion in the channel through building and maintaining relationships with clients, partners and staff. He understands the risks, motivations and opportunities that face Australian businesses as they transform their networks into 21st century revenue centres.
