"Fortinet Security Fabric helps us implement security driven networking that simplifies evaluation, saves money and shortens the time to deploy"

Akshay Balaganur, Director, Airowire Networks

FortiNAC Network Access Control solution uses dynamic network micro-segmentation to assign each device to an appropriate network zone based on a number of factors, including device type, function, and purpose within the network. It can also support Intent-Based Segmentation provided by a FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) to intelligently segment devices based on specific business objectives, such as compliance requirements like GDPR privacy laws or PCI-DSS transaction protection.

Please share details of any Customer deployments. 

A leading customer of oursin the retail business has over 100 branches. Each of their branches was connected with multiple ISP connections. The network was facing high latency due to poor load balancing of application traffic on these multiple links. Also the branches had to manual switch over to secondary connection in case of primary link failure. The business was incurring huge operational costs and network outages due to poor application routing. Users experience was affected severely as the network performance was highly unreliable. The average time required to deploy a new retail outlet was quite high and centralized management and uniform policy deployment was adding to the management problems. 

We advised the customer to switch over to SD-WAN to save cost and improve application performance. The branches had FortiGate NGFW deployed at all 100 locations and we activated SD-WAN features to the existing hardware.The deployed Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution includes best-of-breed next-generation firewall (NGFW) security, SD-WAN, advanced routing, and WAN optimization capabilities, delivering security-driven networking in a unified offering. Leveraging application steering, connection monitoring, and management tools provided by Fortinet we helped the customer in accelerating and the on-ramping of branch offices with connectivity, security and unified management to provide the best possible user experience.

Please share details about your business and your work with Fortinet.

Airowire Networks is a network consultancy and system integration firm.We provide consultation services in Design, Implementationand Management of LAN, WAN and Wireless networks.Whether customers are looking for specific network product or full network support, we provide a comprehensive and flexible range of managed services. From managing the entire Network infrastructure to just specific elements, we can tailor our services to meet their individual needs.Airowire Networks has an engineering team that has a proven expertise of designing, building and managing complex Enterprise scale networks.

We have an establishedwork relationship with Fortinet which started 5 years back. We began with a small security practice and rapidly we got the right business support and technical expertise form from Fortinet sales and pre-sales teams to expand our services. We have since been growing our security business with Fortinet 3X – 4X Year-on Year.

Fortinet is a market and technology leader in the security domain.The simple management and deployment features of their solutions helps usgarnermore business and customers to expand our portfolio of solution offering.

What kind of business challenges are you witnessing in the security domain?

The legacy security solutions that brought us to this point cannot take us any further. Asecurity that focuses on a connection through a gateway on a perimeter, or even on inspecting the content flowing through that connection, has little usefulness in a world where networks, data, workflows, and devices are in a constant state of flux.

Edge-based networking is replacing the traditional perimeter, enabling organizations to more dynamically expand their networks, build dynamic WAN connections, adopt mobility and IoT strategies, and enable distributed processing. It is also introducing a wide range of new security challenges that can’t be addressed with our current security solutions or strategies.

A one-size-fits-all approach to edge security is certain to fail. Security not only needs to span the entire distributed network but also dynamically adjust without human intervention to continuous network changes.

How are you meeting these challenges? How has Fortinet helped you in the market?

Fortinet Security Fabric helps us implement security-driven networking with an integrated set of solutions that simplifies evaluation, saves moneyand shortens the time to deploy. The various tools deployed don’t require separate management, configuration, orchestration, or analysis consoles. By integrating all security devices into a common operating systemFortiOS, these devicescan see each other, share and correlate threat intelligenceand participate in a coordinated threat response.

All management, configuration, and orchestration needs are integrated into a single-pane-of-glass console. This not only supports visibility and control, it also helps ensure that all configurations are compatible and that there are no gaps in terms of meeting compliance obligations. It also ensures that external feeds that provide actionable threat intelligence are distributed consistently across all security solutions.

The Fortinet Security Fabric also provides APIs that allow third-party solutions to build integrations between the Fortinet Security Fabric and their products, connect to orchestration systems to support dynamic topology changes and workflows, and even develop complementary solutions for a stronger end-to-end security solution.

The Fortinet Security Fabricis a true security platform that not only deploys and enforces security policies consistently regardless of where the platform is located, but also coordinates activities, correlates data, and ensures consistent enforcement between platforms. This integrated network of platforms establishes a unified security fabric that can span and adapt to the entire distributed network.

What are the business opportunities in the current security market that is witnessing more demands?

When security is focused primarily on the perimeter, those attackers, malware, and infected devices that manage to bypass edge security checkpoints often have free access to the flat network or network segment inside. CISOs are having a nightmare with managing thousands of IoT devices connecting to the network. The common issue is one of trust. When you automatically extend trust to any device or user in your network, you put your organization at risk when either becomes compromised, whether intentionally or unintentionally. 

The core assumption is that every device on your network is potentially infected, and any user is capable of compromising critical resources. With that new paradigm in place, organizations need to know exactly who and what is on their network at any given moment. Next, they need to ensure that those users and devices are only provided with the minimum level of network rights necessary for them to do their job. And finally, any resources they need should only be accessed on a “need to know” basis, regardless of their location or function.

Fortinet’s Zero-trust Network Access framework specifically addresses this challenge by shifting the fundamental paradigm open networks built around inherent trust, to a zero-trust framework through the adoption of rigorous network access controls.