Fortinet expands partnership with Microsoft for NGFW and secure SD-WAN integration

Fortinet and Microsoft have announced the expansion of their partnership to provide the industry’s first next-generation firewall (NGFW) and Secure SD-WAN connectivity with Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN. Customers may now apply advanced security controls to virtual WAN traffic and extend Secure SD-WAN into the Azure virtual WAN hub for the first time ever from any vendor. As a result, enhanced security and networking capabilities in the cloud have converged, resulting in a cloud on-ramp and SD-WAN experience that is even more streamlined, automated, and safe. The connection also makes it easier for businesses to connect Azure-based applications and workloads to the rest of their hybrid and multi-cloud installations.

John Maddison, EVP of Products and CMO at Fortinet said, “Partnering with Microsoft Azure gives our joint customers the best of both worlds combining Azure’s secure infrastructure with Fortinet’s industry-leading next-generation firewall capabilities and best-in-class Secure SD-WAN solution. The integration of FortiGate-VM extends the Fortinet Security Fabric into Azure Virtual WAN and enhances our ability to secure any application on any cloud and to secure the cloud on-ramp into, between, and within the cloud.”

“We’re pleased to provide customers with new options for securing network traffic into, between and within cloud deployments thanks to the integration of Fortinet’s FortiGate-VM with Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN,” says Erin Chapple, Corporate Vice President, Azure Core Products and Design, Microsoft

Secure Traffic Into, Out of and Through Azure Virtual WAN with Fortinet

Companies are increasingly looking to use Azure Virtual WAN as a worldwide transit network design, allowing them to link endpoints seamlessly. While Microsoft has long given safe access to the Virtual WAN Hub, it has been difficult to provide the same security policies and tools across clouds and data centers within Azure Virtual WAN. With FortiGate-VM and Fortinet Secure SD-WAN integrated with Azure Virtual WAN, enterprises can achieve their targeted digital innovation outcomes in the cloud while decreasing complexity. This integration, in particular, allows IT and security professionals to simply establish networking and security in Microsoft Azure, resulting in the following advantages:

• Advanced Security for Virtual WAN Traffic: By supporting encrypted data transports, granular segmentation and application-layer protection against advanced threats, and a seamless overlay network with uniform policies across multi-clouds, FortiGate-VM allows security policies to extend to traffic within the Azure Virtual WAN hub, enabling better, more secure application experiences for users and branch offices.
• One-Click Deployment: Azure Virtual WAN integration allows for one-click deployment and easy scalability for FortiGate-VM in Azure. Customers can choose, configure, and deploy FortiGate virtual machines directly from the Azure Marketplace or the Azure Virtual WAN interface with this integration, making security part of the Virtual WAN setup process in Azure.
• Securely Interconnect Applications and Workloads Across Clouds: Azure Virtual WAN acts as a worldwide network transit backbone for branch-to-branch connection, allowing regions to easily join. Customers who want to deploy Azure-based hybrid and multi-cloud networks can now easily and securely interconnect applications and workloads, extending the benefits of the Fortinet Security Fabric and Fortinet Secure SD-WAN across their entire infrastructure and enabling consistent policies and centralised visibility. This streamlines security administration, provides global visibility into security events and policies, and improves user and customer quality of experience (QoE).

FortiGate-VM integration with Azure gateway load-balancer, which helps customers to deliver enhanced experiences for applications and workloads running in Azure, was also announced earlier this month by Fortinet and Microsoft.

Secure Any Application on Any Cloud

FortiGate-VM is part of Fortinet’s Adaptive Cloud Security portfolio, which includes technologies, services, and industry-leading threat intelligence to help customers secure any application in any cloud. Security and DevOps teams can address cloud security gaps while easing security management burdens and supporting rapid innovation release with flexible deployment options, extensive integration, and centralized administration and visibility. Organizations get consistent security posture, visibility, and enforcement through uniform security management across multi-cloud and hybrid environments by leveraging the Fortinet Security Fabric’s wide, integrated, and automated nature.