Fortinet Introduces “System-on-a-Chip” (SOC) Architecture at Breakthrough Price Point
Fortinet - a leading network security provider and a worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions – today announced the FortiGate-60C and FortiWifi-60C, new multi-threat security appliances designed for small branch offices of distributed enterprises, SOHOs and small businesses, and service providers delivering managed services in customer premise equipment (CPE) deployments.
The new appliances deliver enterprise-grade security performance at a breakthrough price point -- delivering a tenfold increase in firewall throughput over its predecessors -- and include the full version of FortiOS 4.0 MR2 firmware. Unlike comparably-priced competitive UTM devices, FortiGate-60C and FortiWifi-60C appliances feature a secure digital high capacity (SDHC) card slot for storage expansion, 3G network connectivity, local logging and reporting, WAN optimisation, and simplified set-up through its USB interface.
The FortiGate-60C and FortiWifi-60C appliances are ideally suited to enterprise branch or small office deployments in retail, financial services, healthcare and regional government markets. The enterprise-grade, multi-threat protection the appliances provide is comparable to higher-end FortiGate appliances that are designed for large enterprise and carrier environments.
The FortiGate-60C appliances’ high performance can be attributed to Fortinet’s innovative System-on-a-Chip (SOC) architecture, which combines a traditional system CPU with Fortinet’s proprietary FortiASIC content and network processors. As a result, the appliance delivers much more efficient content inspection processing and 1 Gbps of firewall inspection performance.
To maximise deployment flexibility, the FortiGate-60C and FortiWifi-60C incorporate a SDHC card slot and ExpressCard slot for 3G wireless communications. The appliances include 4GB of SDHC storage for event logging. The ExpressCard slot supports a 3G wireless card for secure mobile deployments or redundant WAN connections to ensure data availability.
In addition, like other FortiGate appliances, the FortiGate-60C can be remotely managed by the FortiManager and FortiAnalyser platforms. The FortiGate-60C and FortiWifi-60C also simplify initial set-up and ongoing configuration using their USB interface and embedded FortiExplorer set-up software. The FortiExplorer wizard automatically launches when the appliance is connected to a Microsoft Windows PC and allows basic configuration to deploy devices onto the network or make configuration changes.
Versatile Appliance for Multiple Customer Environments
Like other Fortinet security appliances, the FortiGate-60C and FortiWifi-60C provide a broad array of security services enabled by the recently announced FortiOS™ 4.0 MR2 operating system. In addition to functioning as a dedicated enterprise-class firewall with tightly integrated IPS and complete content protection (CCP), the appliances can be deployed with any combination of IPSec/SSL VPN, antivirus/anti-malware, Web filtering, anti-spam, data loss prevention, and voice security services, all determined by the customer for maximum deployment flexibility.
A growing security need among SOHOs, small businesses, and distributed enterprises is greater identification and control over modern Web-based applications. Through complete content protection (CCP), the FortiGate-60C and FortiWifi-60C provide the ability to enforce rigorous and granular security policies down to the application level, independent of port or protocol. This is made possible through the integration of content-aware security technologies into the firewall to identify threats.
“Fortinet’s innovative SOC architecture makes the FortiGate-60C and FortiWifi-60C two of our most versatile security appliances capable of addressing the multi-threat protection needs of a wide range of customer environments and market segments,” said Michael Xie, founder, CTO and vice president of engineering at Fortinet. “Now SOHO, small business, distributed enterprises and service provider customers alike can enjoy the benefits of an ultra-high performance security appliance without breaking the bank.”
