Fortinet today announced it has joined HP’s AllianceOne Partner program with the HP Networking Specialization.  As enterprises and Service Providers look to effectively deploy security in their datacenters, leveraging the benefits of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), this partnership lays the foundation for Fortinet to deliver pre-integrated SDN-optimized security solutions to enhance HP’s SDN security portfolio.  These solutions are designed to extend the agility and operational benefits of SDN security solutions, delivered from physical or virtual FortiGate security appliances, enabling customers to reduce OPEX, strengthen security and derive more value from their investments in HP SDN and Fortinet Security.

As enterprises and Service Providers move towards SDN architectures, not only is security a logical intrinsic Data Center element that needs to fit seamlessly in such architectures, but security services like those from FortiGate appliances can utilize the programmability of the network to deliver more capabilities than previously possible.

As an example, containment of contaminated devices is a huge issue for customers, particularly when the compromise is characterized by Fortinet’s high performance next generation firewall as an advanced threat that could lead to a data breach. FortiGate appliances derive intelligence from FortiGuard threat intelligence research services, and FortiSandbox analytics, resulting in a coordinated hyper performance system for defeating advanced threats. In HP SDN environments, FortiGate appliances or virtual machines (VMs) could proactively instruct the HP VAN controller to contain such infected endpoints at the closest switch in an automated programmable way.  This would significantly reduce the risk of threat proliferation and data theft, without any incremental investment required for containment technologies.  

“We see growing customer interest in Fortinet Security within SDN environments” said Rajesh Maurya, Country Manger, India & SAARC at Fortinet. “We look forward to working with HP to offer pre-validated security solutions, where Fortinet appliances or VMs are able to seamlessly service advanced security use-cases in HP SDN environments.”

“Fortinet joining the HP AllianceOne and HP Networking Specialization programs adds partner-delivered SDN security solutions to HP’s industry-leading SDN ecosystem to provide customers greater choice,” said Michael Zhu, senior director, global solutions and alliances, HP Networking. “As a leader in network security, Fortinet is an important addition to our ecosystem and accelerates customer migration to SDN.”