Fortinet expands next-generation firewall lineup

SDxCentral reports that two new next-generation firewalls have joined Fortinet's portfolio geared toward data centers. The 3200F and 900G series of FortiGate data center NGFWs are designed for hyperscale and mid-range data centers, respectively. According to Nirav Shah, Fortinet's vice president of products and solutions, the ASIC-powered 3200F series provides an up to 10 times performance increase with capacity for high-traffic volume and scale management, while the 900G series offers triple the threat protection performance in gigabytes per second compared to the industry standard. Fortinet's firewall expansion comes amid what the company says is a steady shift toward hybrid mesh firewalls, which Gartner describes as platforms that offer controls for multiple enforcement points and are directed via a centralized, cloud-based manager. Whats unique that Fortinet has been driving is that the next generation firewall needs to have a single operating system, it needs to be driving AI-powered services everywhere, and it needs to have a unified management, Shah said.