2,500-site Secure SD-WAN Deployment is the Latest Project from Spark NZ and Fortinet to Improve Application Experience and Enable Network Automation

AUCKLAND, New Zealand and SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Jun 9, 2020

Spark NZ, New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services company, and Fortinet^® (NASDAQ: FTNT), a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, today announced Spark has chosen Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to expand and differentiate its service offerings to corporate, enterprise and government customers.  

By leveraging Fortinet Secure SD-WAN, Spark is able to deliver better application experience, automate network security operations, and provide better cost efficiency to customers across New Zealand. The solution also makes it easy for corporate, enterprise and government customers to implement network changes that ensure business continuity for an expanding remote workforce with minimal requirement for IT staff and infrastructure resources. Spark also leverages zero-touch provisioning to more quickly enable new customer deployments compared to other services.

New Customer Success Stories from Spark NZ and Fortinet

Fortinet is building on a partnership with Spark that, most recently, resulted in delivering one of the largest technology migrations in New Zealand. The physical migration of 2,500 sites, many in remote locations, was aided by API-driven automation to successfully and seamlessly finish ahead of schedule. Fortinet is now partnering with Spark to achieve complete WAN transformation for a number of other major clients across New Zealand.

In addition to leveraging Fortinet Secure SD-WAN to deliver services to their customers, Spark has also chosen to deploy Fortinet Secure SD-WAN across their own retail locations, resulting in improved performance, strengthened services from an infrastructure perspective, and increased network stability.

Expanding Security Skills Through Fortinet’s NSE Institute Training

Spark leverages the Fortinet Network Security Expert (NSE) Institute’s training and certification program to broaden employees’ security skill sets and learn how to deploy Fortinet’s industry-leading security products and solutions. Spark has the largest NSE-certified team in New Zealand. The Fortinet NSE Institute offers an eight-level training and certification program that is designed to provide interested professionals with the ability to configure, install and troubleshoot a comprehensive security solution.

Supporting Quotes

“Customer experience is our number one priority at Spark, so we only use solutions that make connecting seamless, and perform for our customers. Fortinet is a strong partner with proven solutions. Working with Fortinet has added multiple strings to our bow in terms of the services we provide our enterprise customers. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN offers great value for Spark customers, as well as a mature and powerful security solution.”
– Shelby Ighani, Security Infrastructure Manager at Spark NZ.

“We’re proud to partner with Spark NZ and share its commitment to delivering security-driven networking solutions. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN offers service providers like Spark the ability to onboard customers faster and deliver a solution that enhances customers’ application and cloud experience.”
– John Maddison, EVP of products and CMO at Fortinet