Fortinet is a key
player in the growing UTM market in India. Vishak Raman, regional director – India & SAARC, Fortinet
talks about large-scale deployment of UTMs for 3G networks and areas where 3G
security can be further enhanced.
Why is there a sudden
spurt in the growth and popularity of UTM products in the Indian market, and
what is the scope for the same with networks like 3G?
UTM solutions combine
security solutions like Firewall, IPS/IDS, Antivirus (AV), Anti-Spam (AS) and
VPN into one single appliance. This easy to implement and even easier to manage
security infrastructure enables users to manage disparate security functions
efficiently, scan high network traffic and application content volumes without
impacting network performance, virtualize the security layer to derive higher
productivity and ROI on security assets, deploy proactive vulnerability assessments
and implement remedial actions automatically, and deliver faster security
responses to perceived or real threats.
With increased
capability to detect, flag, and block malware, spam and viruses at very high
accuracy rates while screening high volumes of telecom service provider data,
UTMs are being deployed across all major telecom service providers offering 3G
solutions like video calling, online gaming, on-demand business applications,
and on-demand virtual interactive meetings, in India.
What are some of the
key differentiating factors between Fortinet’s UTM product and other leading
UTM vendors in the market?
Fortinet has been
focusing on accelerating high-end market penetration and extending its solution
portfolio to deliver end-to-end IT security to the enterprise, providing
protection to endpoints, to the network perimeter and the core, including
databases and applications.
Fortinet enables
low-latency security thanks to its custom ASIC processors which deliver all the
power needed to detect malicious content at multi-Gigabit speeds. Fortinet’s
purpose built hardware, combined with its proprietary FortiOS operating system,
provides better performance for the most demanding networking environments.
Fortinet developed its integrated architecture specifically to provide high
throughput and low latency. Its unique approach minimizes packet processing
while accurately scanning data for threats.
In addition,
Fortinet’s operating system has been developed on the same source code to
optimize security performance and eliminate redundant traffic processing. Other
UTM products on the market are unable to do this because security functions
have been based upon multiple, disparate source code.
How is Fortinet UTM
doing in other markets?
Fortinet’s products and
subscription services provide broad, integrated and high-performance protection
against dynamic security threats to large enterprises, service providers and
government entities worldwide, including the majority of the 2009 Fortune
Global 100.
We have a business
model that takes advantage of organizations’ changing security needs (for
example around cloud and mobile technologies), and are on a strong growth path.
Testament to the rising relevance of UTM around the world and Fortinet’s sound
business strategy, our full-year 2010 revenue jumped 29 percent year-over-year
to $324.7 million. Our Q1 earnings this year showed a continuation of the
momentum, with year-over-year revenue surging a further 34 percent.
IDC has identified
the UTM market segment as the fastest growing segment of the broader network
security market and expects UTM to represent approximately 30 percent of the
network security appliance market by 2014. We believe that Fortinet is well
positioned to ride this growth.
What are the new UTM
products launched in the Indian market by Fortinet?
The latest UTM product
launched by Fortinet in the Indian market is the FortiGate-3140B.
FortiGate-3140B is a consolidated security appliance; it offers exceptional
levels of performance, deployment flexibility and security for large enterprise
networks. The FortiGate-3140B combines three essential elements to achieve
these benefits: custom hardware including FortiASIC processors, high port
density, and multi-threat security from the FortiOS operating system.
Do you believe that
Indian 3G operators have sufficiently secured themselves and customers against
threat management from higher internet usage?
With the opening up
of 3G and the government’s push towards broadband penetration, telecom players
are moving away from the traditional VAS Voice, SMS text, prepaid internet
access cards to more interactive solutions like video calling, online gaming,
on-demand business applications and on-demand virtual interactive meetings.
Having deployed our solutions across all major telecom service provider
networks in India, we believe there are some areas where security can be
enhanced further. These include Peering Gateway Security, SIP firewalling, High
performance URL filtering, VOIP Security, DNS fire walling and Managed Security
Services.
By Beryl M
editor@telecomlead.com