Organizations are actively developing and implementing zero-trust strategies to mitigate the risks in today's ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape. Gartner projects that "by 2026, 10% of large enterprises will have a comprehensive, mature and measurable zero trust program in place, up from less than 1% in 2023."¹The philosophy of zero trust aligns with Fortinet's approach to providing integrated solutions that enable zero trust and increased security across your organization. However, navigating this dynamic market can be confusing, given the numerous solutions and approaches available.

Gartner publishes its Hype Cycle? to help organizations discern market hype, alleviate confusion, and gain valuable insights into managing technology deployment within the context of a business's goals. In the 2023 Gartner? Hype Cycle for Zero Trust Networking, Fortinet is listed as a Sample Vendor for six zero-trust technologies. This blog explains the Hype Cycle and highlights Fortinet's commitment to helping customers achieve their zero-trust goals.

How to Interpret a Gartner Hype Cycle

Each Hype Cycle visualization consists of five distinct phases as seen in Figure 1 below.  In the graphical Hype Cycle, you can visually locate the placement of specific technologies within the overarching theme. Below you'll see the Gartner Hype Cycle for Zero Trust Networking featuring 19 different technology categories distributed throughout.

Each Hype Cycle provides detailed write-ups on each technology featured. These write-ups define the technology, explain its specific benefits, and outline its potential business impact. Collectively, these resources help provide organizations with a strong foundation from which to initiate and inform their strategic IT decisions.

Fortinet recognized in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Zero Trust Networking

At Fortinet, we are committed to helping organizations achieve their zero-trust goals. Fortinet is named as a Sample Vendor in six zero-trust categories:

1. Universal ZTNA: Universal ZTNA appears in the Innovation Trigger stage of the Hype Cycle. According to Gartner, this technology is anticipated to deliver substantial benefits to organizations, even though its adoption remains relatively low. Universal ZTNA primarily focuses on establishing a zero-trust network access (ZTNA) policy that follows a user regardless of their login location, encompassing both remote and campus locations, to ensure secure access to private applications. Read how this multinational telecom provider made the switch to Fortinet Universal ZTNA.
2. Hybrid mesh firewall platform: Hybrid mesh firewall (HMF) platform appears in the Innovation Trigger stage of the Hype Cycle. Gartner foresees significant benefits for organizations from this technology, with a market penetration between 5% and 20%.²Hybrid mesh firewalls allow for centralized management of firewalls in a hybrid environment, unifying security policies across all firewall deployments from on-premises and into the cloud. Learn how this banking customer is consolidating across Fortinet solutions, including with HMF.
3. Digital experience monitoring: Digital experience monitoring (DEM) appears in the Trough of Disillusionment within the Hype Cycle. We believe this placement is a result of many vendors overpromising and underdelivering on their DEM offerings. DEM's main purpose is to monitor the performance, quality, and overall user-to-application experience as they interact with any application, even SaaS applications. To fully harness the full potential of DEM, organizations should seek vendors capable of providing visibility into users' digital experience while enabling teams to proactively address performance issues before users are impacted.
4. Secure access service edge: SASE appears in the Trough of Disillusionment within the Hype Cycle. We believe this placement is a result of the lack of comprehensive SASE solutions on the market. SASE delivers networking and security technologies designed to support secure access for users regardless of their location. These integrated technologies include SD-WAN on the networking side and secure web gateway (SWG), firewall-as-a-service (FWaaS), ZTNA and cloud access security broker (CASB) on the security side. It is crucial for organizations to seek out vendors capable of providing SASE from a unified management console with a unified agent, backed by robust technology rather than mere marketing hype surrounding their SASE offerings. By moving to FortiSASE, the Upper Grand School District was able to enhance remote user security and drive operational efficiency.
5. ZTNA: ZTNA appears in the Slope of Enlightenment on the Hype Cycle. Gartner foresees moderate benefits for organizations, with a market penetration ranging from 20% to 50%.³ZTNA is about providing least-privileged access to an organization's private applications, providing much better security than legacy VPNs. ZTNA is primarily focused on providing access to remote users, unlike Universal ZTNA, which provides access regardless of a user's location.
6. Microsegmentation: Microsegmentation appears in the Slope of Enlightenment on the Hype Cycle. Gartner foresees this technology yielding high benefits for organizations, even though it currently holds a market penetration of 5% to 20%.⁴Microsegmentation represents a security methodology that entails isolating secure zones within a data center or cloud environment. This approach enables IT administrators with finer-grained control over applications and workloads.

Transitioning to a zero-trust approach can seem like a formidable undertaking. Fortinet is committed to helping you on this transformative journey. To learn more about how to formulate a zero-trust strategy, read this complimentary copy of the 2023 Gartner Hype Cycle for Zero Trust Networking.

1, 2, 3, 4 - Gartner, Hype Cycle for Zero Trust Networking, 2023, 18 July 2023, By Andrew Lerner, John Watts.

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