Fortinet Launches Secure Wireless LAN Solution in Malaysia

New Solution Provides End-to-End, Easy to Manage, System-Wide Policy Enforcement for Wired and Wireless Networks

MALAYSIA, May 2, 2013 – Fortinet – a world leader in high-performance network security - today unveiled its new Secure Wireless LAN solution specifically designed for distributed enterprises. The Fortinet Secure WLAN integrates wireless and wired access, security, authentication, switching and management, in an easily managed system that allows system-wide policy enforcement. With it, administrators gain a broad, unified solution that provides unmatched protection, superior TCO and granular control through user authentication and device visibility across the entire network. As part of the solution, Fortinet unveiled new wired and wireless products: the FortiSwitch-28C and FortiSwitch-348B Ethernet switches and FortiAP-14C and FortiAP-28C wireless access points.

“Because of the explosive growth of mobile devices and applications in the workplace, networks need to be re-architected for low latency, increased throughput, and of course strong security,” said Rohit Mehra, Vice President, Network Infrastructure, IDC. “Solutions such as Fortinet’s new Secure WLAN solution address the major pain points that distributed enterprises face today – securely accommodating the exponential growth of BYOD for both employee and guest access; identifying and mitigating security issues; and reducing costs and complexities associated with provisioning and managing overlay wireless networks.”

The Secure WLAN solution uniquely integrates security into the fabric of the network to help organizations effectively address enterprise mobility. With it, Fortinet offers the most comprehensive solution on the market for consistently protecting the enterprise wired and wireless networks. Key features include:

- Integrated security: No other vendor provides as advanced and integrated threat protection coupled with fully featured wireless access. This gives administrators a streamlined, single-pane-of-glass to manage users and devices as well as unified policy enforcement across wired and wireless networks.

- Low Total Cost of Ownership: With Fortinet, there is no need to purchase separate WLAN controllers, and there are no per AP and cloud management licensing fees, which can quickly add up as wireless is deployed in multiple locations.

- Device Visibility: This allows organizations to define and enforce policies based on device types. Mobile device access (iPhone, Android, etc.) is configured by on-boarding the device via user and device authentication and applying a per device and user policy to ensure the right destinations are reached. This is the fundamental technology needed for BYOD initiatives in K-12 and offices.

- Authentication: The solution provides integrated authentication with single sign-on and policy enforcement across access points, security appliances and switched devices.

- Scalability: Fortinet supports centralized, mesh, and distributed controller-less access point deployments with a variety of indoor, outdoor and remote APs.  These APs, when combined with FortiGate virtual or appliance-based wireless controllers, are ideal for education, healthcare, retail and distributed enterprise environments.

Available as part of the solution are two new wired and wireless products, which include FortiSwitch-28C and FortiSwitch-348B Ethernet switches and FortiAP-14C and FortiAP-28C wireless remote access points. The FortiSwitches provide seamless integration of various Fortinet technologies, while power-over-Ethernet functionality eliminates the need to run additional wires to power wireless access points.

Furthermore, this enables power delivery to FortiVoice IP phones, FortiCam IP surveillance cameras, and other devices such as retail PoS devices.  The new FortiAPs are small, plug-and-play 802.11n wireless access points that allow organizations to easily and securely extend wireless access to branch and home offices while retaining centralized management and policy control.

Switch and AP management, as well as user and device policy enforcement, is powered by Fortinet FortiGate security appliances, which integrate advanced firewall protection, VPN connectivity, endpoint and application control, Web filtering, antimalware and data loss prevention. Combined, these form a complete, highly secure, end-to-end integrated wired and wireless network solution that is tailor made for today’s mobile, distributed enterprise environment.

Additionally, for enterprises that require two-factor authentication, the Fortinet Secure WLAN solution seamlessly supports FortiAuthenticator series of authentication appliances that deliver both hardware token and soft token-based two-factor authentication to any third-party device.

Fortified with FortiOS
The Fortinet Secure WLAN solution leverages a number of new or improved features and capabilities of the FortiOS 5 operating system, including:
• Consistent policy enforcement of all wired and wireless network traffic using the controller built into all FortiGate appliances.  Profile changes made from a FortiGate can be pushed out to thousands of access points;
• Bandwidth management for prioritizing mission-critical and bandwidth intensive applications;
• Identity-based policy management for identifying anything connected to the network, including mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets and then pushing customizable policies that can be tailored for each device;
• Single-pane-of-glass device management for managing all infrastructure products attached to the network through a FortiGate or FortiManager appliance;
• Application control for allowing, blocking or rate-limiting access to thousands of applications, a crucial building block for today’s high bandwidth wireless infrastructure;
• Rogue AP detection, mitigation and wireless IPS to block unauthorized access points from creating a point of information leakage from the network and detecting wireless anomalies.

“No other vendor provides such a complete, highly secure end-to-end, wired and wireless solution for the distributed enterprise,” said Dato’ Seri George Chang, Fortinet’s Regional Vice President for Southeast Asia & Hong Kong. “With the Fortinet Secure WLAN offering, customers get consolidation without compromise – they get a superior TCO solution that provides end-to-end wired and wireless network security, management, access and control.”

Availability
The FortiSwitch-28C and FortiSwitch-348B secure Ethernet switches and the FortiAP-14C and FortiAP-28C access points are available now from local authorised resellers.