Fortinet CEO: Company is Applying Gen AI Across Its Product Line
Fortinet has already started using generative artificial intelligence (AI) across its “entire product line,” according to Ken Xie, the company’s CEO.
Applying Gen AI across Fortinet’s full product line allows its customers to “optimize [their] security effectiveness and operational efficiency,” he told analysts Feb. 6, during an earnings call for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 (ended Dec. 31).
Overall, he said: “We have invested heavily in AI across every function and product. For over a decade, Fortinet has used machine learning and AI to provide advanced threat intelligence across more than 40 products from network, end point and application security. Our solutions apply AI and ML across the expanded digital attack surface automatically containing and remediating incidents within seconds, where the industry averages for detection and remediations [are] several days.”
The company’s FortiAI technology, meanwhile, is “already available” on FortiSIEM and FortiSOAR, and “more products will be adding this functionality in the coming months,” he told analysts.
FortiAI is the next generation of Fortinet’s malware detection technology, which uses Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) that the company says can “deliver sub-second malware detection and verdict.”
FortiAI is the next generation of Fortinet’s malware detection technology, which uses Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) that the company says can “deliver sub-second malware detection and verdict.”
The company’s FortiSOAR technology “helps IT/OT security teams thwart attacks by centralizing incident management and automating the myriad of analyst activities required for effective threat investigation and response,” according to Fortinet.
FortiSIEM is a “highly scalable multi-tenant Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution that provides real-time infrastructure and user awareness for accurate threat detection, analysis, and reporting,” according to Fortinet.
Fortinet’s Diversification Strategy
“Today, with over 35 percent of our billings beyond traditional, and sometimes cyclical, firewalls, Fortinet has become an increasingly diversified business over the past decade,” Keith Jensen, Fortinet’s CFO, told analysts on the earnings call.
He explained: “A key element of the diversification is our single operating system strategy. FortiOS is the foundation of our comprehensive and innovative solutions that drive the convergence of networking and security while also consolidating multiple security capabilities. Attempting to piece together best-of-breed solutions from multiple vendors can result in significant security gaps, slower AI-driven technology adoption, and a slower pace of identifying, reporting, and resolving security incidents.”
Organizations are increasingly recognizing that an integrated security solution “run by a single operating system is the best way to improve their security posture,” according to Jensen. “Consolidation allows security solutions to share data and communicate with each other, reducing complexity, improving security effectiveness, easing the need for skilled labor and lowering the total cost of ownership,” he added.
Q4 Results
The comments came as Fortinet reported Q4 revenue grew 10.3% to $1.42 billion from $1.28 billion in Q4 of 2022. Its service revenue, meanwhile, increased 24.8% to $927 million from $742.9 million in Q4 of 2022.
Fortinet’s total Q4 billings grew 8.5% to $1.86 billion from $1.72 billion in Q4 of 2022, it said.
The increase in billings was “driven by our increased focus” on security operations (SecOps), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) and “improved execution from our sales teams,” according to Xie.
During Q4, Fortinet “closed six eight-figure deals across five industry verticals,” Xie told analysts. All six of those transactions included all three of its SASE, SecOps and secure networking solutions, “illustrating the value of our integrated platform that spans across on-premises and cloud as well as our FortiASIC technology advantages,” he noted.
FortiASIC (Fortinet application-specific integrated circuit) processors provide accelerated network security within Fortinet’s platforms compared to other processors, according to the company.