Fortinet’s Security-Driven Networking approach seamlessly integrates and accelerates security and networking to protect any edge at any scale. 

An expanding digital footprint, coupled with the need to adapt to a new normal caused by the ongoing pandemic, has further accelerated the transformation of the traditional network perimeter in favor of multiple intelligent edge environments including the enterprise data center and WAN and cloud edges, among others.

This shift to edge computing and the widespread adoption of 5G has further introduced new threat vectors that, if not properly addressed, allow cybercriminals to gain access to an organization’s network and, depending on the severity of attack, can either disrupt a business or put people’s lives at risk for industries like healthcare or critical infrastructure. The lack of visibility over this ever-expanding attack surface and the need to deliver consistent security posture to manage security and operational risks can hinder an organization’s growth.

​How the Gartner November 2020 Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls Report Helps Organizations Select An Effective Network Firewall

Gartner’s November 2020 Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls report offers essential research to help technology practitioners evaluate vendors based on their performance in the critical capabilities needed to implement the stated use cases. 

Gartner’s “Critical Capabilities” reports use proprietary methodologies to score Network Firewall vendors in critical subcategories within each Magic Quadrant area based on more granular criteria. These reports extend the value of the more general Magic Quadrant recognitions by providing deeper insight into providers’ product and service offerings across key use cases.

In the November 2020 Gartner Critical Capabilities report for Network Firewalls, 17 vendors were evaluated for their performance across nine critical capabilities as they were applied using different weights across five different use cases.

Fortinet received the highest score for the Enterprise Data Center Use Case (3.71/5) in the 2020 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls report. This marks the second year in a row that Fortinet has scored highest in the Enterprise Data Center Use Case, as we scored (3.67/5) in the December 2019 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls report.November 2020 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls Report – Enterprise Data Center Use Case

Fortinet has also scored the highest in the SMB Use Case (3.52/5) demonstrating its ability to protect both large enterprises and small and medium sized organizations. Further, Fortinet received the second highest score for both the Enterprise Edge (3.51/5) and Distributed Enterprise (3.46/5) Use Cases, as shown below.November 2020 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls Report – Enterprise Edge and Distributed Enterprise Use Cases

Fortinet’s FortiGate Network Firewall is an integral component of the Fortinet Security Fabric, which leverages a platform approach to enable customers to reduce cost and complexity, achieve high operational efficiency, and manage security risks by protecting the entire digital attack surface from known and unknown attacks including some of the most sophisticated adversaries launching advanced Edge Access Trojans (EATs), Swarm-based attacks, and many more.

Further, Fortinet’s security-driven networking approach accelerates the convergence of networking and security to protect any edge, including remote workers, enterprise data centers, and the WAN and cloud edges—all from a single network firewall platform.

Specific to the Enterprise Data Center Use Case in the 2020 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls report, the Scalability (35%), Advanced Networking (20%), Intrusion Protection and ATD (15%), and Price Performance (10%) critical capabilities were given relatively high weights compared to the other capabilities, underscoring their importance to the evaluation criteria as it relates to this use case. According to Gartner, the Enterprise Data Center use case “includes firewalls protecting the enterprise data center, and firewalls doing segmentation inside the enterprise data center.” 

The FortiGate Network Firewall protects enterprise data centers from internal risks through segmentation and preventing lateral spread. And at the same time, manages external risks through security solutions that offer the required scale, best price/performance and advanced security enforcement by leveraging Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDPS) capabilities, running as a stand-alone solution or as a consolidated feature of the Network Firewall.

The Distributed Enterprise Use Case “describes enterprises with multiple, geographically dispersed branch offices,” according to Gartner. Because of this, in the 2020 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Firewalls report more relative weight to is given to the Advanced Networking (25%), Central Management and Reporting (15%), and Intrusion Protection and ATD (15%), critical capabilities.

With Fortinet’s Fabric Management Center, large, distributed enterprise customers can gain single-pane-of-glass management, automation, and orchestration for their Security Fabric solutions like the FortiGate Network Firewall, which extends to an ecosystem of 400+ integrations to simplify enterprise-wide workflows.

The Enterprise Edge Use Case, which “includes firewalls protecting the enterprise perimeter,” put relatively more weight on the Decryption (15%), Intrusion Protection and ATD (15%), Application Control (15%) and Scalability (10%) critical capabilities in the November 2020 Gartner Critical Capabilities report.

The FortiGate Network Firewall, powered by purpose-built SPU technology, delivers the required security at scale to customers, accelerated by built-in Network Processors like our latest NP7 and by Content Processors like our latest CP9, enabling optimal user experience and removing blind spots to meet escalating business demands.

As a Leader in both the 2020 Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls and for WAN Edge Infrastructure, we believe that Fortinet’s Security-Driven Networking approach provides the foundation for organizations to protect any edge, at any scale—all from a single network firewall platform.

Read the full 2020 Gartner Critical Capabilities for Network Firewall Report now.