Fortinet Bolsters Security for Managed Providers

The value of security in nearly any computer-related product is hard to understate. Protecting records, and in turn protecting the people attached to those records, is a vital process for anyone who has records. These days, that's almost everyone. Now, Fortinet (News - Alert) has brought out a little something extra to help on this front, a new program geared toward managed security service providers (MSSPs) that will provide extra tools and further benefits to provide protection.

The new program will offer access to a wide array of benefits, starting with access to Fortinet's own developer network. That means plenty of documentation to read, application programming interfaces (APIs) to draw on, and tools to use that were formerly only available for internal use. Training programs, offered online to allow users to proceed at their own pace, are also on hand to help drive technical development and even sales operations. There's even some support specifically geared to the sales and marketing arms, offering access to beta programs, invitation-only events and even account management tools.

That's a great start, and might be a lot of help on its own. There's more to offer here, however, and it's drawing plenty of attention too. Beyond the Fortinet Developer Network, there's also the policy migration tool known as FortiConverter to help improve productivity and shorten project delivery times. FortiDeploy, meanwhile, offers bulk provisioning to allow several Fortinet tools—FortiWiFi, FortiAP, and others—to be brought out simultaneously with just one click. Finally, FortiPortal offers a single-point management tool for an MSSP's various customer networks.

Fortinet's senior director of managed security service providers, Stephan Tallent, commented, “Facing an increasingly hostile threat landscape, businesses of all sizes are struggling to ensure the security of their sensitive data and technology investments....Fortinet’s new MSSP Program reinforces our ongoing investments and continued dedication to the success of our MSSP partners and the security of their customers.”

Since Fortinet is known as a leader worldwide in cybersecurity solutions, seeing the company turn its hand to MSSP protective measures isn't really out of line. Fortinet has a lot to offer at the managed provider level, as well as at other levels of the business community, so throwing open the doors and allowing access to the fullest range of protective measures should give MSSPs a real leg up in providing the best of security for their own users. That in turn makes Fortinet all the more valuable as the company is able to provide all these tools, making its own lineup central to operations.

MSSPs have a lot of value in a market that increasingly needs protective measures, and Fortinet will likely be valuable to MSSPs. That gives Fortinet a leg up as well, and improves everyone's position going forward.