"Cisco should be very interested in Fortinet," says Eric Ogren, Yankee Group analyst. But Cisco might prefer to stick to its PIX series of firewalls rather than pick up the new technology, he says. Prudential Equity Group LLC analyst Inder Singh agrees, having written that Cisco, with its own stash of security technology, isn't likely to acquire something just to counter Juniper.
Richard Kagan, Fortinet vice president of marketing, says no such deal is pending; rather, Fortinet simply needs the money to continue its growth ramp of 50 percent per quarter. "To grow at that clip takes cash," he says.
He adds that the funding wasn't spurred by the Juniper-NetScreen deal, as negotiations began before that deal was announced. "There was no event that occurred that drove this financing," he says. "The board is just convinced there should be no constraints to our ability to grow."
Even without Cisco circling, Fortinet would do well to plan for an eventual acquisition. "Ninety-nine out of 100 security companies that have hardware products are going to be bought," Ogren says, with potential acquirers including Cisco, NetScreen (even inside Juniper), Network Associates Inc. (NYSE: NET), Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE/Toronto: NT), and Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC).
Fortinet's hardware-based firewalls are focused on content-based security, such as scanning for viruses. They also include features for VPN support and intrusion detection. The appliances sit at the periphery of the LAN, scanning traffic as it arrives.
Bob Friday, Chief AI Officer for Juniper Networks, explains how the advanced technology is transforming operations.
Contact center leaders from 8x8, Awaken Intelligence, and 360insight discuss the importance of agent experience.
AI may force enterprises to rewire parts of their data centers so they are fully optimized to run such workloads. The question is do you use Ethernet or InfiniBand?
