Fortinet, a global network security solutions company, is very bullish over its India operations. The company is aggressive on channel and business expansion and about foraying in new growth verticals. Fortinet is also betting big on some of the crucial government projects and has created a separate domain specialist for the government business.
In a bid to educate its partners on the latest security offerings and align them with the growth journey, Fortinet recently organized “Fortinet Synergy” event in Ahmadabad. The event was focused on tapping the right business opportunities in the Central India region by engaging closely with the partners. The company also announced to open an office in Rajasthan to provide better sales and pre-sales support to partners.
“Our objective is to build a pipeline and provide a platform to our partners to foray into new business lines with our expanded product portfolio. We want to educate our partners on the solutions portfolio and create end user opportunities,” said Navin Mehra, Regional Manager, West Central & East India, Fortinet while emphasizing on the channel engagement.
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According to IDC Worldwide Security Appliance Tracker, the UTM market generated USD 1.25 billion in revenues in Q1, 2016. Fortinet was at the number 4 position with 10 per cent market share against 8.1 per cent in Q1, 2015. The company posted strong YoY growth across BFSI, IT and ITeS, Government and Defense in 2015.
Wireless security is the fasted growing business segment in Fortinet and the company has emerged as the fourth largest wireless security vendor worldwide. The company has entered into strategic deals to become a complete solution provider in the security space. In a bid to get deeper into the enterprise wireless security market, Fortinet announced the acquisition of Meru Networks for around USD 44 million in 2015. Extending its Fortinet’s Security Fabric strategy, the company recently acquired security analytics firm AccelOps.
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On a channel front, Fortinet is expanding its reach and partner base in the tier II markets. Government is one of the fastest growing verticals for Fortinet and the company is associated with government agencies and consultants on crucial e-governance projects. The company is also in the process of identifying government business focused channel partners.
Unveiling Fortinet’s play in the government segment, Sanjeev Tyagi, National Head, Government and Defence at Fortinet said, “We want to position Fortinet as a partner choice in the government vertical and build a sustainable business with our partners. Fortinet is widely recognized as the UTM brand, but now moving one step ahead we want to position ourselves as a “Wi-Fi” security brand. The government has announced several crucial digitization projects where we intend to play as a wireless security vendor. We are focusing on e-education, smart cities and e-health projects and in the process of identifying government focused channel partners who will lead those projects.”
Tyagi said that under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), some of the state governments have received funds for E-Governance projects. States are spending a major chunk of the funds on wireless security, where Fortinet intends to play a major role as a network security solution provider.
Also Read: Fortinet Extends Security Fabric With Acquisition Of AccelOps
During the event, the company showcased its leading solutions and guided partners on the business pitch. Fortinet also awarded its partners for their outstanding performance and announced the Fortinet FortiReward scheme.
In India, Fortinet operates through an indirect business model. Ingram Micro and Redington are the two major distributors of the company. Fortinet currently has over 750 signed channel partners. The company intends to increase the current partner base and partner with SIs specialized in data centers, cloud and government domain.