Manufacturer Improves Network Resilience and Enables Multi-Cloud Strategy With Fortinet Secure SD-WAN

For direct sales companies, success is relative. Many thrive by offering direct-to-consumer marketing strategies. Some achieve a global reach. One company falls into the latter category. Manufacturing and distributing a wide range of kitchen and home products, it operates in nearly 40 countries worldwide across 70 locations.

Securing the Wide-Area Network

For any company of this size, securing the enterprise network is a significant challenge. Over the years, the company had built a distributed wide-area network (WAN) that connected over 65 remote offices and used more than 40 internet service providers (ISPs) to link additional sales offices, manufacturing plants, and regional offices across its international operations.

The company protected its network through routers and a unified threat management (UTM) platform, which were coming to the end of their operational life and falling out of necessary vendor support agreements. Rather than update their legacy solutions, the company opted to explore options that would include a global software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN).

The business driver behind this change was clear: its existing WAN was static, and its levels of performance inhibited. By moving to an SD-WAN, the company realized it could reduce business risk by increasing network redundancy and resilience; better leverage innovations from multiple cloud providers including Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure; and simplify operations by better integrating network and security infrastructure.

The organization’s aim was to find a SD-WAN solution that converged Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and remote access capabilities. Crucially, all this would need to be delivered without sacrificing any of the functionality provided by its “2-tier” routing and security stack—particularly when it came to security. 

Deploying Fortinet Secure SD-WAN

During a competitive process against major networking and security brands, Fortinet worked hard to understand the company’s technical requirements and business objectives. The Fortinet team documented and discussed these requirements with the customer at each stage of a detailed proof of concept (POC) phase. In addition, Fortinet put in place clear success metrics, which enabled the client to move beyond the POC to a full-scale solution that met its requirements exactly.

Today, the company is in the process of deploying the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution across its global footprint. The solution comprises a large number of components from the Fortinet Security Fabric including FortiGate NGFWs, FortiSwitches, and the FortiClient Fabric Agent for endpoint security. Fortinet Secure SD-WAN extends a range of functions for the client including SD-Branch, NGFW, ZTNA, and secure remote access.

Enabling Greater Control, Visibility, and Efficiency

As a result of deploying the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution and the efficiencies that come with a solution that is tightly integrated on a single Security Fabric, the company expects to secure 40% in savings over five years. During the same period, it will decrease management operation cycles by over 30% while also benefitting from better visibility and control across its network.

As well as reducing network security risks, the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution is a strategic investment for the company as it enables the organization to operate a secure and transparent multi-cloud infrastructure. As a result, the company will be able to make full use of Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Microsoft Azure, leveraging the high performance afforded by Fortinet’s solutions.

A Platform for Future Innovation

In addition to addressing the company’s immediate needs, through its Security Fabric, Fortinet enables the business with a foundation that can grow and change alongside its needs. As a representative from the company commented, the Security Fabric provides “a platform on which you build as business needs change.”

With many of the benefits of Fortinet’s solutions already being felt, the company is going deeper into the Security Fabric, with a commitment to expand with FortiNAC network access control, FortiEDR endpoint detection and response, and multi-factor authentication from Fortinet. The company is looking to go further still and is in active discussions with Fortinet around a full enterprise agreement for complete network security.

Take a security-driven networking approach to improve user experience and simplify operations at the WAN edge with Fortinet Secure SD-WAN