Today's organizations face the daunting challenge of managing and securing new sprawling network architectures that span on-premises, cloud, and remote environments. These new edges and highly adaptive infrastructures can make it challenging to set and maintain consistent policies with consolidated visibility and control, and threat actors are quick to exploit even temporary weak spots in the expanding attack surface.

In such complex hybrid networks, the need for a unified security strategy becomes paramount. And to achieve this, many organizations have increased their operational efficiency with modern Hybrid Mesh Firewalls that enable them to centralize and unify security policies and automate security operations across the entire infrastructure.

In line with our vision of delivering "cybersecurity, everywhere you need it," the Fortinet Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution marries the strength of conventional network firewalls with the adaptability and expansiveness of cloud solutions. This strategic approach addresses the dynamic needs of modern firewall use cases while effectively mitigating the challenges posed by today's ever-evolving threat landscape by ensuring consistent policy enforcement and centralized management and control across even the most complex and adaptive network environments.

In the recent Market Guide for Hybrid Mesh Firewall Platforms published by Gartner, Fortinet was recognized as a Representative Vendor for our Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution. In the Market Guide, Gartner writes: "Despite the majority of vendors in the firewall market offering multiple firewall deployment modes and cloud-based management, many lack a dedicated hybrid mesh firewall offering." We believe that our inclusion in this Market Guide as a Representative Vendor-in addition to previous recognition by Gartner of Fortinet as a Sample Vendor for Hybrid Mesh Firewall Platform in the Gartner? Hype Cycle? for Workload and Network Security 2023 report-further validates our approach, positioning us as the unrivaled forward-thinking leader in the evolving network security market. 

What Is a Hybrid Mesh Firewall and Its Value Proposition?

The Market Guide for Hybrid Mesh Firewall Platforms identifies a Hybrid Mesh Firewall as "a multi-deployment firewall including hardware and virtual appliance, cloud-based, and as-a-service models with a unified cloud-based management plane." A Hybrid Mesh Firewall is a vital component of the Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture (CSMA), which, according to Gartner, "is a collaborative ecosystem of tools and controls to secure a modern, distributed enterprise."³

According to the Gartner Market Guide, the core capabilities of an HMF include:

• More than two deployment options delivered by the same vendor. For example, hardware/virtual, cloud-native, Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS), or a containerized firewall
• A cloud-based centralized manager with auto-tuning, policy recommendation capabilities, and visibility into cloud-native microsegmentation controls
• CI/CD (continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment) integration
• Application discovery and connectivity mapping, and application usage visibility
• Advanced threat prevention for IoT- and DNS-based attacks

Fortinet's Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution, we feel, aligns with the Gartner core capability list, providing diverse deployment options, closely integrated, centralized and unified management for policy analytics and dynamic adjustment, CI/CD integration, and advanced threat prevention extended across the entire attack surface.

The Fortinet Hybrid Mesh Firewall Solution

The Fortinet Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution streamlines complex network security by offering a unified defense strategy across multiple environments. This approach enhances operational efficiency and ensures robust security through unified policies while providing extensive visibility and workflow automation.

Fortinet offers a complete Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution and uniquely delivers components purpose-built to seamlessly interoperate, thanks to our single FortiOS operating system. It delivers:

• Centralized, unified management and security analytics via FortiManager
• ASIC-based FortiGate NGFW appliances
• Cloud-native firewalls via FortiGate CNF
• FortiGate virtual firewalls
• FWaaS via FortiSASE
• Industry-leading threat intelligence via FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services
• FortiFlex and FortiPoints for simplified pricing and license delivery                                                

According to the Gartner Market Guide, "By 2025, over 50% of network firewall deployments will involve more than two deployment factors from the same vendor - up from less than 10% in 2023."

Here at Fortinet, our customers have been leveraging the benefits of improving operational efficiency with our Hybrid Mesh Firewall approach for years. A recent example is Guardian Pharmacy Services, which has deployed the Fortinet Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution in its evolving secure network and multi-cloud infrastructure. Its transition from an on-premises to a hybrid model required a security solution able to support distributed locations and accommodate the increasing number of applications moving into the cloud. With Fortinet Hybrid Mesh Firewall and unified management (via FortiManager), Guardian Pharmacy Services, with its two-person IT team, can efficiently operate and secure all 40 of its locations. You can read more about its success story here.

To learn more about the Fortinet Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution, be sure to visit our Hybrid Mesh Firewall solution page.

Disclaimer Information:

Gartner, Market Guide for Hybrid Mesh Firewall Platforms, By Rajpreet Kaur, Adam Hils, 16 January 2024.

Gartner, Hype Cycle? for Workload and Network Security, Charlie Winckless, Feng Gao, 31 July 2023.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, Hype Cycle is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

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