Customer Perspectives

In regional or provincial government, the office of the chief of staff, or head ministry, provides a broad array of support functions to elected officials, including policy communications, stakeholder engagement, administration, and operations. Today, administration and operations also often include managing technology infrastructure and services for local government agencies, including networking and cybersecurity.

The provincial head ministry of one the largest Latin American countries operates a network that provides regional agencies with Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service solutions through its on-premises data centers. This network serves thousands of geographically dispersed sites and interconnects data centers throughout the province. 

Building a Secure, High-Performance Network

The ministry found its legacy network and security equipment provider to be unreliable and was concerned that the regional agencies it supported would lose trust in its network. The ministry decided to overhaul its network to increase availability, improve cybersecurity, and provide a high level of service to end-users. Needing to connect more than 10,000 locations, the ministry was also looking for a partner that could help simplify network management as well as extend security and connectivity to regional sites through an SD-Branch deployment.

Cost was a key factor in the ministry's plans. Previously, the ministry connected its two data centers with an expensive multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) core. The ministry wished to replace these MPLS lines with cost-effective internet connections, leveraging a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) approach.

Knowing that its incumbent vendor would not be able to meet its service-level agreement (SLA) or cybersecurity needs using its legacy routers and firewalls and that the vendor's SD-WAN was similarly limited, the ministry broadened its search in the hope of finding a more effective SD-WAN solution. During this selection process, including rigorous network lab testing, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN demonstrated itself to be superior in terms of technical capabilities like high performance, single management for network and security policies, reliability and resiliency, and total cost of ownership.

SD-WAN Networking the Fortinet Way

While rolling new equipment out to its sites, the ministry decided to update the wireless infrastructure at its regional locations. Because Fortinet Secure SD-WAN can be seamlessly extended into the branch local area network (LAN), the ministry is also able to easily deploy it. In the first phase, the ministry will roll out the solution to 2,600 sites before extending it to all 10,000 locations.

The ministry's Fortinet Secure SD-WAN deployment leverages FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) and FortiAP wireless access points with the FortiManager unified management solution. The resulting convergence of networking and security is streamlining administration and enhancing security. The ministry has further enhanced its security posture through FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services, adding unified threat protection for advanced device, content, and web security services.

Centralizing and simplifying the management of network services at scale for the agencies it supports was also a critical consideration. To achieve this, the ministry is using FortiPortal, a virtual multi-tenant security analytics and management capability for its FortiGate NGFWs and FortiAPs. FortiPortal enables the ministry to view and manage its agency networks through a single pane of glass while delivering secure SD-WAN configuration and monitoring. The ministry can also access network analytics insights through the FortiAnalyzer centralized logging tool. Fortinet provides ongoing support through FortiCare Premium Support and FortiCare Pro Advanced Support, allowing the ministry to access a dedicated Technical Account Manager.

Less Disruption and Lower Costs

With the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution in place, the ministry is meeting its network refresh goals. One standout benefit is the ease of managing its branch networks. With FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, the ministry's network operations center staff has streamlined monitoring and policy, enabling them to manage their entire network from one place. Meanwhile, FortiPortal enables localized IT teams to administer security policies to meet their unique requirements.

By simplifying network management in this way, the Fortinet solution has made the ministry's team more agile and better able to serve its clients. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, when employees were returning to offices, the team was able to rapidly set up an entire Wi-Fi network from a single management console. Similarly, through the zero-touch provisioning enabled by Fortinet, the ministry has reduced the time it takes to set up a new site and configure security policies from over a week to just 10 minutes.

Fortinet is also helping the ministry increase efficiency and reduce costs. Replacing expensive MPLS links, Fortinet Secure SD-WAN is forecast to deliver$700,000 in cost savings in the first year alone while driving 60% efficiency savings in network management and administration. It is anticipated that network disruptions will be reduced by a staggering 75%, helping to vastly improve the end-user experience.

Better performance, reduced cost, and increased security. Working with Fortinet, the ministry is providing a secure network and network services that its agencies can trust and that help keep the wheels of the provincial government moving.

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