Fortinet has unveiled 12 new products designed to connect and extend Fortinet’s integrated security platforms for retail, branch offices and distributed enterprises. Under the umbrella of “Connected UTM,” Fortinet’s new FortiGate unified threat management appliances, wireless access points, wireless WAN extender, and Ethernet switches provide unparalleled policy and access control, threat protection and business continuity.
“Fortinet’s vision for retailers, branch offices and other massively distributed enterprise environments is Connected UTM,” said Alain Penel, Regional vice President for Fortinet in the Middle East. “By integrating the flexibility of Fortinet’s UTM appliances, wireless access points, wireless WAN extender and switching products, businesses can simplify their complex networks, improve management and ensure seamless policy enforcement, aggressively pursue new business opportunities, and reduce costs while enjoying all the benefits of high-performance network security.”
“As UTM appliances continue to integrate discreet security functions such as firewall, AV, IPS, Web content filtering, etc., we also see an emerging trend where UTM appliances are extending their security policy enforcement to include and integrate management functionality of WLAN, VoIP, IP-based cameras and more,” said John Grady, Research Manager at IDC. “Here, Fortinet’s Connected UTM offerings exemplify this trend and demonstrate innovation in driving new use and adoption cases for UTM in distributed enterprise environments.”
The foundation for Connected UTM begins with integration and management. Fortinet’s new FortiGate/FortiWiFi-30D-POE, FortiGate/FortiWiFi-60D-POE and FortiGate/FortiWiFi-90D-POE and FortiGate-280D-POE all integrate the full suite of UTM security features plus WiFi access point control, switching, authentication, endpoint management and policy control in a single easy-to-manage device.
This consolidated approach allows businesses to enforce policies across a number of device types and provide better security by having these devices plugged into and managed by a single FortiGate. The FG-280D-POE, with a total of 84 ports, was purpose-built for smaller networks (such as retail locations and healthcare facilities) that want to take advantage of the very high port density to eliminate devices in their infrastructure, such as switches.
The next level in the Connected UTM platform incorporates the ability to connect and manage multiple devices through integrated Power over Ethernet (PoE) ports. With this functionality, multiple devices, such as wireless access points ,Point of Sale (PoS) devices, network video cameras and video recorders, digital signage, IP telephony systems can be attached and managed from a FortiGate Connected UTM.
Managing multiple devices and capabilities through a single security appliance requires high performance hardware to prevent network bottlenecks. To help accelerate wireless performance, Fortinet today also announced two new WiFi access points. The FortiAP-221C and FortiAP-320C support the new 802.11ac wireless standard, which offers data rates in excess of 1 Gbps.
This level of performance helps meet higher bandwidth requirements for guest WiFi access without slowing down the performance of critical corporate data. In addition, by using FortiAP access points or FortiWiFi models, retailers can segment their network in order to provide guest access while maintaining PCI DSS compliance.
For organizations requiring broadband as their primary connection or continuity/fail-over, Fortinet offers the FortiExtender-100B, an unobtrusive device that acts as a 3G/4G wireless WAN extender for improved relaying of critical data between a service provider and a FortiGate device. The FortiGate and the FortiExtender devices can be separated by as much as 100 meters, allowing the FortiGate to be in a basement or wiring closet and the FortiExtender antenna to be mounted in a different location.
As a business grows, and so must its network security architecture. To help with that transition, Fortinet today is introducing two new switching appliances that extend the connected capabilities of the FortiGate platform.
The FortiSwitch-224D-POE is a rack-mount appliance with 24 (10/100/1000) access ports and 12 PoE ports, and the FortiSwitch-108D-POE is a desktop appliance that offers 10 (10/100/1000) access ports and 8 PoE ports. These switches enable organizations to seamlessly integrate additional IP devices such as wireless access points, IP phones and other PoE equipment into the network.
Fortinet’s ability to integrate with Retail Analytics providers is an example of the power behind Connected UTM. Retail Analytics offers retailers a complete spectrum of big data management solutions, including monitoring, analyzing, influencing and monetizing consumer data in real time.
By leveraging customers’ mobile devices the moment they walk into an establishment, Retail Analytics can assess customers’ specific purchasing needs and then directly target those customers in real time with products they were considering buying. Among other things, this technology helps retailers win back sales that might otherwise be lost to online counterparts. Fortinet’s Connected UTM solution serves to protect the store network, provide secure guest access to the wireless network, and seamlessly protect customer data from threats and unnecessary exposure.
The FortiGate/FortiWiFi-30D-POE, FortiGate/FortiWiFi-60D-POE, FortiGate/FortiWiFi-90D-POE, FortiGate-280D-POE, FortiAP-221C, FortiAP-320C, FortiExtender-100B, FortiSwitch-224D-POE and FortiSwitch-108D-POE are available now.
