Fortinet Unveils New ASIC to Accelerate the Convergence of Networking and Security Across Every Network Edge

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer at Fortinet
“With the introduction of FortiSP5, Fortinet once again sets new industry records for performance, cost, and energy efficiency. As the only cybersecurity vendor leveraging purpose-built ASICs, an over 20-year investment in innovation, Fortinet delivers the secure computing power that will support the next generation of secure infrastructure.”

News Summary
Fortinet^® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today announced FortiSP5, the latest breakthrough in ASIC technology from Fortinet, propelling major leaps forward in securing distributed network edges. Building on over 20 years of ASIC investment and innovation from Fortinet, FortiSP5 delivers significant secure computing power advantages over traditional CPU and network ASICs, lower cost and power consumption, the ability to enable new secure infrastructure across branch, campus, 5G, edge compute, operational technologies, and more.

Unparalleled Innovation in Custom Chip Performance 
With an application-specific design and embedded multi-core processors to accelerate the convergence of networking and security functions, FortiSP5 delivers:

• 17x faster firewall performance compared to leading standard CPUs.
• 3.5x faster next-generation firewall (NGFW) performance compared to leading standard CPUs to handle higher levels of traffic inspection to detect and block threats. 
• 32x faster encryption to protect sensitive data and secure virtual private networks.
• 2.5 Gbps of SSL deep inspection to deliver the processing power needed to inspect encrypted traffic for malware without performance issues.
• Secure boot to allow only approved operating system software to boot up, protecting critical infrastructure against malicious tampering.
• Volumetric DDoS protection to thwart distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
• VXLAN/GRE hardware-accelerated encapsulation to enable secure interconnectivity for distributed networks.
• Hardware-accelerated Quality of Service (QoS) to enhance user experience with dedicated QoS for sensitive applications such as videoconferencing.

Significant Cost and Energy Savings
As a fifth-generation 7-nanometer chip, FortiSP5 packs more capabilities in a smaller form factor to deliver:

• 88% less power consumption compared to the leading industry-standard CPU 
• Industry-leading performance per watt 
• Industry-leading price-performance
  

Supporting More Applications to Enable Important Customer Use Cases 
With the ability to accelerate and concurrently run 2x more applications—for example, NGFW, zero-trust network access (ZTNA), SD-WAN, and SSL inspection—compared to the previous generation, FortiSP5 will support use cases such as:

• Branch/Campus: FortiSP5 ensures the transition to SD-Branch is efficient and cost-effective in a small form factor, enabling IT staff to simplify management and reduce OpEx while increasing network uptime. Additionally, as more organizations embrace the cloud and hybrid work model, FortiSP5 will continue to be a driver for Secure SD-WAN to empower customers to securely and seamlessly access applications anywhere while delivering consistent user experience with an optimized platform. 
• Edge Compute: As edge computing improves efficiency and cost control through processing close to the edge, FortiSP5 supports high-speed networks and security threat protection for both commercial and operational technology (OT) environments, minimizing bottlenecks for traffic movement. 
• Operational Technology: The convergence of IT and OT has opened the infrastructure to increased security risks that can disrupt operations. FortiSP5 enables scalable convergence, securing both OT and IT infrastructures with a single, high-performance platform.
• 5G: 5G adoption is on the rise in enterprise networks, fueling innovation at the edge as it provides higher bandwidth and lower latency. FortiSP5 enables a seamless transition to support 5G with an optimized and sustainable platform. 

Proven System on a Chip Technology
FortiSP5 will power the next generation of entry and mid-range FortiGate firewalls being released later this year. Now on its fifth generation, we believe Fortinet’s proprietary system on a chip technology has a proven track record of powering the industry’s top-performing products and solutions. A few examples include:

• Fortinet has been named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Firewalls,¹ marking the thirteenth time Fortinet has been recognized in this Magic Quadrant. 
• A recent Forrester study² highlighted that customers deploying Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution, which is backed by FortiGate and SOC technology, achieved a 300% return on investment over 3 years with a payback period of only 8 months.
  

Fortinet Supports Sustainability Goals
The energy efficiency and performance per watt of FortiSP5 and the products that leverage the chip will help organizations reduce their power and space requirements. Fortinet remains committed to sustainable product innovation to ensure each generation of its products consumes less energy and is built sustainably.

Today, Fortinet’s Sunnyvale headquarters is a net-zero emissions facility and plans for global operations to be completely carbon neutral by 2030. Fortinet was recently named to the 2022 Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America Indices as one of the top sustainable companies in the world, highlighting Fortinet’s commitment to achieving a sustainable society.

Supporting Quote:
“Enterprise applications and the users and devices that access them are more distributed than ever, which is causing organizations to rethink their edge network and security architectures. A key to enabling enterprise edge networking is having strong security without compromising on network performance and user experience. Fortinet has a 20-year history in ASIC technology that helps achieve these goals, and the company’s newest FortiSP5 continues that legacy. Fortinet’s portfolio of converged network and security solutions with custom chips helps enterprises accelerate their edge network and security transformation.”
- Brandon Butler, Research Manager, Enterprise Networks at IDC

Additional Resources

• Learn more about Fortinet’s custom ASIC technology.
• Learn about Fortinet’s free cybersecurity training, which includes broad cyber awareness and product training. As part of the Fortinet Training Advancement Agenda (TAA), the Fortinet Training Institute also provides training and certification through the Network Security Expert (NSE) Certification, Academic Partner, and Education Outreach programs.
• Read about how Fortinet customers are securing their organizations.
• Follow Fortinet on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Subscribe to Fortinet on our blog or YouTube.

^¹ Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Network Firewalls, Rajpreet Kaur, Adam Hils, Tom Lintemuth, 19 December 2022.

² “The Total Economic Impact™ Of Fortinet Secure SD-WAN”, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Fortinet, December 2022.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s Research & Advisory organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About Fortinet
Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a driving force in the evolution of cybersecurity and the convergence of networking and security. Our mission is to secure people, devices, and data everywhere, and today we deliver cybersecurity everywhere you need it with the largest integrated portfolio of over 50 enterprise-grade products. Well over half a million customers trust Fortinet's solutions, which are among the most deployed, most patented, and most validated in the industry. The Fortinet Training Institute, one of the largest and broadest training programs in the industry, is dedicated to making cybersecurity training and new career opportunities available to everyone. FortiGuard Labs, Fortinet’s elite threat intelligence and research organization, develops and utilizes leading-edge machine learning and AI technologies to provide customers with timely and consistently top-rated protection and actionable threat intelligence. Learn more at https://www.fortinet.com, the Fortinet Blog, and FortiGuard Labs.

FTNT-O

Copyright © 2023 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols ® and ™ denote respectively federally registered trademarks and common law trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet’s trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, the Fortinet logo, FortiGate, FortiOS, FortiGuard, FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiManager, FortiASIC, FortiClient, FortiCloud, FortiMail, FortiSandbox, FortiADC, FortiAI, FortiAIOps, FortiAntenna, FortiAP, FortiAPCam, FortiAuthenticator, FortiCache, FortiCall, FortiCam, FortiCamera, FortiCarrier, FortiCASB, FortiCentral, FortiConnect, FortiController, FortiConverter, FortiCWP, FortiDB, FortiDDoS, FortiDeceptor, FortiDeploy, FortiDevSec, FortiEdge, FortiEDR, FortiExplorer, FortiExtender, FortiFirewall, FortiFone, FortiGSLB, FortiHypervisor, FortiInsight, FortiIsolator, FortiLAN, FortiLink, FortiMoM, FortiMonitor, FortiNAC, FortiNDR, FortiPenTest, FortiPhish, FortiPlanner, FortiPolicy, FortiPortal, FortiPresence, FortiProxy, FortiRecon, FortiRecorder, FortiSASE, FortiSDNConnector, FortiSIEM, FortiSMS, FortiSOAR, FortiSwitch, FortiTester, FortiToken, FortiTrust, FortiVoice, FortiWAN, FortiWeb, FortiWiFi, FortiWLC, FortiWLM and FortiXDR. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements or certifications herein attributed to third parties and Fortinet does not independently endorse such statements. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, nothing herein constitutes a warranty, guarantee, contract, binding specification or other binding commitment by Fortinet or any indication of intent related to a binding commitment, and performance and other specification information herein may be unique to certain environments. 

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