Fortinet extends security fabric to accelerate 5G adoption

Fortinet announced the new FortiGate 7121F and FortiExtender 511F-5G to further secure and accelerate 5G adoption. Powered by Fortinet’s proprietary SPU ASICs, the FortiGate 7121F delivers the highest-performing security necessary for 5G networks and enterprise Zero Trust Access, while FortiExtender 511F-5G provides wireless WAN connectivity for SD-WAN and SASE solutions.

John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet said“Fortinet has heavily invested in the development of its 5G security portfolio. Delivering the world’s fastest NGFW, we help service providers secure radio and Internet interfaces at price performance numbers 10 times today’s benchmarks. Additionally, the new 5G FortiExtender provides more WAN connectivity options and is fully integrated into the FortiGate SD-WAN policy engine.”

5G will enable transformation and innovation for both the enterprise and mobile network operators (MNOs). To unleash its full potential, a new 5G ecosystem, including operational technology (OT) and industrial control vendors and public cloud vendors, is being formed to create new sets of applications and services that will drive this transformation for the industrial enterprise. This expanded 5G ecosystem introduces additional edges and expands the digital attack surface, posing new cybersecurity risks. These new risks need to be addressed to avoid business disruptions and to ensure low latency and the highest reliability and scalability without sacrificing end-to-end security and compliance.

To address this challenge, the new FortiGate 7121F consolidates networking and security through a security-driven networking approach to deliver full visibility, the highest scalability and advanced security to protect business-critical applications in the distributed and hybrid 5G ecosystem. Through the breadth of the Security Fabric, Fortinet provides end-to-end security for 5G private and public network ecosystems, while also providing flexible connectivity and threat intelligence capabilities.

5G connectivity provides users and organizations ultra-fast internet speed while offering lower latency for their employees working from anywhere. The latest FortiExtender 511F-5G wireless WAN brings sub 6Ghz 5G connectivity to power SD-WAN and SASE solutions. FortiExtender is simple to setup and plug into Fortinet’s industry-leading Secure SD-WAN solution to provide flexible WAN connectivity for hybrid WAN to deliver better user experience. FortiExtender also enables thin edges with 5G connectivity to FortiSASE for cloud-delivered security and inspection, providing ultra-fast and safe wireless WAN connectivity for a diverse set of industries including retail, OT and healthcare.