Fortinet Announces New Telco and ISP Multi-threat Security Platform

Fortinet® - a market-leading network security provider and worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions – has today announced the release of carrier specific versions of its FortiGate® multi-threat security platform.

The new FortiCarrier™ family is designed for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), mobile phone carriers, and telecommunications carriers. FortiCarrier integrates new functionality which allows Internet service providers and managed security service providers to better protect their own networks. The new platform also allows service providers to easily generate additional revenue through offering virtualised cloud-based security services to their customers.

The new FortiCarrier solutions are driven by three key trends: 

•     the convergence of content types including data, voice, video and mobile content onto a single network

•     the proliferation of threats targeting mobile phones

•     the growing popularity of the security-as-a-service business model.

“A carrier-specific offering for consolidated security would be timely to take advantage of the market’s current propensity toward managed security services, especially under the budgetary pressures of the current economic climate,” said Lee Doyle, group vice president and general manager of IDC’s Network Infrastructure and Security Products and Services groups.

Fortinet’s new carrier class platforms run a specialised version of FortiOS, called FortiOS Carrier. FortiOS Carrier offers all of the standard Fortinet unified threat management features, as well as providing carrier specific extensions geared towards protecting carrier voice-over-IP infrastructures and mobile phone operator networks. A range of automated provisioning and management features are also included in FortiOS Carrier, allowing security policies to be efficiently managed for thousands of customers.

FortiCarrier Product Family

The following products make up the FortiCarrier family of carrier-grade solutions:

•     FortiOS Carrier 4.0 is the software component for FortiCarrier specialised security hardware. In addition to a full suite of security services, FortiOS Carrier 4.0 extends the security operating system with features designed specifically for service provider environments.

•     FortiCarrier-3810A platform integrates specialised security into an expandable appliance ideal for many service provider implementations. It supports up to four FortiASIC™-accelerated 10GigE interfaces and offers four Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) expansion bays.

•     FortiCarrier-5001A-DW platform is part of a chassis-based security platform and offers the ultimate in performance, flexibility, reliability, and scalability for large service provider implementations. Support for high-density GigE and 10GigE interfaces provides tremendous flexibility and throughput scalability.

The FortiCarrier product line includes the following key features:

•     Dynamic Security Profiles – Service providers can apply automated security policies on a per-user basis, reducing manual configurations, and lowering operational expenses. This dramatically reduces the cost of servicing thousands of customers with differing security policies.

•     Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Security – With the convergence of voice networks onto IP networks, SIP Security protects voice calls exposed to the Internet. FortiOS Carrier contains a SIP firewall which integrates seamlessly with Fortinet’s intrusion prevention service to protect voice infrastructure from rogue traffic and malicious threats.

•     Mobile Provider Security –Mobile phone handsets are now commonly targeted by security threats. FortiOS Carrier features three capabilities specific to mobile phone service providers:  (1) Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) antivirus and antispam to help eliminate malware and spam in messages that use the MMS standard, (2) mobile content filtering to enforce appropriate use policies, and (3) a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) firewall that is designed for compatibility with 3GPP specifications. The combination of these features offers protection for both the mobile provider’s infrastructure and for end-user devices.

Pricing and Availability

Fortinet products are distributed in Australia by WhiteGold Solutions and Firewall Systems. Australian pricing for the FortiCarrier-3810A starts from $87,995 ex GST, with the FortiCarrier-501A-DW starting from $94,995 ex GST.

Fortinet products are distributed in New Zealand by Ingram Micro and Firewall Systems. New Zealand pricing for the FortiCarrier-3810A starts from $113,995 ex GST, with the FortiCarrier-501A-DW starting from $123,995 ex GST.

Additional information on the FortiCarrier product line can be found at http://www.fortinet.com/products/forticarrier/.

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com)

Fortinet is the pioneer and leading provider of ASIC-accelerated unified threat management, or UTM, security systems, which are used by enterprises and service providers to increase their security while reducing total operating costs. Fortinet solutions were built from the ground up to integrate multiple levels of security protection--including firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention, VPN, web filtering, spyware prevention, and anti-spam -- designed to help customers protect against network and content level threats. Leveraging a custom ASIC and a unified interface, Fortinet solutions offer advanced security functionality that scales from remote office to chassis-based solutions with integrated management and reporting capabilities. Fortinet solutions have won multiple awards around the world and are the only security products that are certified in six programs by ICSA Labs:  Firewall, Antivirus, IPSec VPN, SSL VPN, Network IPS, and Anti-spam. Fortinet is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.

Copyright © 2009 Fortinet, Inc.  All rights reserved. The symbols ® and ™ denote respectively federally registered trademarks and unregistered trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet’s trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, FortiGate, FortiGuard, FortiManager, FortiMail, FortiClient,  FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiReporter, FortiOS, FortiASIC, FortiWiFi, FortiSwitch, FortiVoIP, FortiBIOS, FortiLog, FortiResponse, FortiDB and FortiWeb. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements herein attributed to third parties and Fortinet does not separately endorse any such statements.