Fortinet responds to demand in two areas by releasing a high-end small office device and a low-end Gigabit Ethernet-capable device at N+I.

by ISP-Planet Staff [April 29, 2003]

Today, Fortinet is at N+I in Las Vegas to announce two new products in its Fortigate line of security appliances. The devices deliver VPN, firewall, ASIC-based anti-virus, intrusion detection, and content shaping, all on one box. FortiManager software, for the management of many boxes over a network, is also available.

The first new device, the Fortigate 60, is a high-end SOHO box priced at $995 for 10 users or $1,495 for unlimited users. The device has two outgoing 10/100 Ethernet ports, enabling it to connect to two different broadband providers. It is designed to provide load balancing and failover between the two connections. In addition, it has four 10/100 Ethernet connections to the local network.

Atchison Frazer, Fortinet product marketing manager, said, "some of our customers cannot afford to be down. We see this in installations as diverse as retail chain stores and insurance company branch offices."

The second new device, the Fortigate 1000, comes with two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and four 10/100 Ethernet interfaces. "We're seeing a crossover point in Gigabit Ethernet versus 10/100 Ethernet in that the cards are getting cheap. You can get the Network Interface Cards (NICs) for as low as $35," said Frazer. "However, switches are still expensive."

The Fortigate 1000, priced at $12,995, is relatively cheap for a Gigabit Ethernet switch. Prices listed in this article are MSRP for North America only. Fortinet's international prices will differ.

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