Next-Generation Technologies & Secure Development , Video

Ken Xie on Why Fortinet Is Leaning Into SD-WAN, OT Security

CEO on How Fortinet's ASIC Chip, Firewall Heritage Provide a Competitive Advantage
Ken Xie, founder, chairman of the board and CEO, Fortinet

Fortinet has taken advantage of its ASIC chip and network security expertise to drive massive growth in both its SD-WAN and OT security businesses, CEO Ken Xie says.

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Devices that live outside the traditional IT world are extremely difficult to secure on their own, which is why Fortinet uses its ability to detect and block bad network traffic to keep OT devices secure. As for SD-WAN, Xie says Fortinet's ASIC chip gives the company a big performance advantage over peers coming in from the networking space since both compute and security are delivered from one device (see: Fortinet CEO Ken Xie: OT Business Will Be Bigger Than SD-WAN ).

"OT will eventually be much bigger than SD-WAN because there are so many devices and it's so critical for all of these devices to be secure," Xie says.

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Xie also discusses:

  • How the Fortinet ASIC chip has helped Fortinet weather supply chain issues;
  • How Fortinet will address the backlog around switches and access points;
  • How Fortinet has approached convergence and internal segmentation;

Xie has played a key role in building Fortinet's broad portfolio of solutions spanning network, infrastructure, edge, cloud and IoT. These solutions serve approximately 70% of Fortune 100 companies as well as governments around the world. Xie helped create Fortinet's security-driven networking approach, which combines security and networking to deliver advanced, AI-driven protection across the entire attack surface. Fortinet is the third cybersecurity company founded by Xie. His second company, Netscreen, which developed the industry's first ASIC and dedicated hardware systems for high-performance firewalls and VPNs, was acquired by Juniper for $4 billion.


About the Author

Michael Novinson

Michael Novinson

Managing Editor, Business, ISMG

Novinson is responsible for covering the vendor and technology landscape. Prior to joining ISMG, he spent four and a half years covering all the major cybersecurity vendors at CRN, with a focus on their programs and offerings for IT service providers. He was recognized for his breaking news coverage of the August 2019 coordinated ransomware attack against local governments in Texas as well as for his continued reporting around the SolarWinds hack in late 2020 and early 2021.




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