Fortinet has announced an independent analysis ofthe cost savings and business benefits of deploying FortiGate Next-Generation firewalls (NGFWs) and FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Serviceswithin the enterprise data center, includingmore thana 300% return on investment (ROI) over three years and payback in six months.Fortinet is also deepening its commitment to data center security with two new NGFW appliances: the FortiGate 3200F, whichincludes 380 Gbps of firewall throughput and400GEinterfaces to support hyperscale data centers, and the FortiGate 900G, which delivers 20 Gbps of threat protection in a compact form factor for the enterprise.
John Maddison, CMO and EVP, Product Strategy at Fortinet, says, “Fortinet is proven in the data center, delivering cutting-edge security and energy-efficient performanceto today’s largest enterprise organizations. We believe the new Forrester Total Economic Impact™study highlights what customers have said for years: The powerful combination of FortiGate NGFWs and FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services not only strengthens security across the entire enterprise but also delivers incredible return on investment.”
Key Findings from the Independent Study
To quantify the ROI of FortiGate NGFWs and services within the enterprise data center, Fortinet commissioned a “Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study” to aggregate customer feedback. The results were combined to form a single composite organization, which has an annual revenue of $2.5 billion, more than 15,000 employees, and at least three data centers.The study found that the composite organization realized improved performance, increased productivity, and cost savings, as well as the following benefits:
- 318% ROI and six months payback: Deploying FortiGate data centerNGFWs with FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services resulted in a 318% return on investment over three years, payback in less than six months, and more than $8 million in net benefits.
- 90% reduction in time spent on manual updates: Because FortiGate NGFWs are simple to deploy and manage, they reduced the time networking teams spent on manual updates and fixes by 90%. This easeofuse, combined with powerful automation, also resulted in a 50% reduction in device reimaging and 95% reduction in ancillary device connections.
- 40% savings compared to previous NGFW solutions: FortiGate solutions converge networking and security, so customers can reduce the number of point products and services needed to protect their data centers, cutting costs by 40%.
New FortiGate NGFWs: Power and Performance for the Data Center
Furthering Fortinet’s commitment to the data center, the company is also announcing new FortiGate NGFWswith energy-efficient performanceto protect modern enterprises while meeting sustainability goals.These new NGFWs are fully integrated with FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services, including advanced intrusion protection, web security technologies like DNS and URL filtering, and content security to stop new and emerging file-based attacks. Two new models are:
- FortiGate 3200F seriesis purpose-built for hyperscale data centers, delivering4x the industry average firewall throughput, 4.7xthe industry average SSL Inspection throughput, and3.5x the industry average IPSec VPN throughputwhile consuming 72% less energy than competitors. It comes with four 400GE interfacestoseamlessly managehigh traffic volume and scale according to business needs.
- FortiGate 900G seriesis setting a new industry standard by delivering data centerready performance in a compact form factor. It boasts6x the firewall throughput, 5x the IPSec VPN throughput, and 3x the threat protection throughput (20Gbps) than the industry average, ensuring efficient and secure operations.
Below is a summary of target performance numbers of the FortiGate 3200F and 900G series compiled by Fortinet. Security Compute Rating is a benchmark (performance multiplier) that helps customers understand FortiGate performance.
FortiGate 3200F series
| Specification | FortiGate 3201F | Security Compute Rating | Industry Average |
| Firewall | 387 Gbps | 4.0X | 98.5 Gbps |
| IPSec VPN | 105 Gbps | 3.5X | 30.0 Gbps |
| Threat Protection | 45.0 Gbps | 1.6X | 27.5 Gbps |
| SSL Inspection | 29 Gbps | 4.7X | 6.2 Gbps |
| Concurrent Sessions | 70M | 3X | 22.5M |
| Connections per Second | 800K | 1.4X | 565K |
| Specification | FortiGate 3201F | Energy Efficiency | Industry Average |
| Watts/Gbps Firewall Throughput | 2.25 | 3.6X | 8.0W |
| Watts/Gbps IPsec VPN Throughput | 8.29 | 4.6X | 38.5W |
| BTU/h of Firewall Throughput | 7.6 BTU | 2.0X | 15.7 BTU |
FortiGate 900G series
| Specification | FortiGate 901G | Security Compute Rating | Industry Average |
| Firewall | 164.0 Gbps | 6.0X | 27.0 Gbps |
| IPSec VPN | 55 Gbps | 5.0 | 11 Gbps |
| Threat Protection | 20 Gbps | 3X | 6.5 Gbps |
| SSL Inspection | 16.7 Gbps | 2.5X | 6.7 Gbps |
| Concurrent Sessions | 16M | 3.6X | 3M |
| Connections per Second | 720K | 4.5X | 173K |
| Specification | FortiGate 901G | Energy Efficiency | Industry Average |
| Watts/Gbps Firewall Throughput | 1.6W | 6.6X | 10.6W |
| Watts/Gbps IPsec VPN Throughput | 4.8W | 5.2X | 25.1W |
| BTU/h of Firewall Throughput | 5.25 BTU | 6.4X | 33.9 BTU |
Continued Recognition and Support for Hybrid Mesh Firewall Architecture
Fortinet and FortiGate NGFWs have been recognized by a number of third-parties and analysts, including positioningas a Leader in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Network Firewalls, as a Leader in the 2022 The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Firewalls report, and with a “Recommended” rating from CyberRatings.org.
We believe these third-party recognitions area result of Fortinet’s unique approach that converges networking and security. FortiGate NGFWs use a single operating system, FortiOS, and unified management console, FortiManager, to extendAI-powered securityacrossall NGFWs within a hybrid environment, including on-premises, in the cloud, and within virtual machines. This makes FortiGate NGFWs an ideal fit for a hybrid mesh firewall architecture, which coordinates policies across firewalls to create a comprehensive security posture.FortiGate NGFWs are also easy to procure and deploy as part of FortiFlex, Fortinet’s usage-based licensing program.