With the aim to enhance connectivity and service availability, cybersecurity firm Fortinet has announced a significant expansion of its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Points-of-Presence (POPs) by partnering with Google Cloud.
The company said that this strategic collaboration allows it to utilise Google Cloud's extensive global network edge locations, enhancing connectivity and ensuring 99.99% service availability.
According to a senior executive, the goal is to expedite the growth of Fortinet's Universal SASE solution, which is crucial for organisations adopting a single-vendor SASE architecture to securely connect their hybrid workforces.
“By leveraging Google Cloud, Fortinet Universal SASE is even better positioned to serve a more extensive global footprint, ensuring that customers can seamlessly connect and secure their hybrid workforces to critical applications,” said Michael Xie, Founder, President, and Chief Technology Officer of Fortinet.
The expansion is expected to significantly enhance Fortinet's ability to cater to a global audience, ensuring seamless connectivity and robust security for hybrid workforces. By integrating its software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) with the SASE offering, Fortinet is also broadening the ability of its global SD-WAN customers to adopt integrated cloud-delivered security.
“This partnership will expand our global POP resources and accelerate customer adoption of Fortinet's Universal SASE solution. And because our SD-WAN solution is natively integrated with our SASE offering, Fortinet's global SD-WAN customers now have an even broader ability to easily adopt integrated cloud-delivered security to implement a comprehensive Universal SASE solution,” Xie said.
The company also asserted that the partnership with Google Cloud is also poised to boost its service revenues, as it will now be able to attract new customers. These developments are likely to contribute to a projected increase in service revenues, with estimates indicating a growth of 28.1% year-over-year for 2023, reaching approximately $3.37 billion.
“Our expanded partnership with Fortinet can enable high uptime for customers looking to support their hybrid workforces with Fortinet's SASE solution, along with the advantages of using Google Cloud's Cross-Cloud Network, which include lower costs and improved application experiences,” said Muninder Sambi, Vice President and GM of Networking at Google Cloud.
Competition in the SASE market remains fierce, with Fortinet's stock gaining 21% in the past year amidst a sector rise of 36.1%. Competitors such as Versa Networks, HPE (Aruba) and Palo Alto Networks offer robust SASE solutions, with features like phased implementation, managed threat detection, and AI-enhanced security, which contribute to the competitive landscape Fortinet is navigating.
