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SD-WAN Architecture for Enterprise

FortiGate

7.0.0
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FortiGate

With its underlying FortiOS firmware, FortiGate is the product at the foundation of Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution. A key differentiation from other SD-WAN vendors is that the FortiGate Secure SD-WAN platform provides the following key capabilities:

  • Built-in intelligence to decide the best path for a specific application
  • Integrated and native Next-Generation Firewall security inspection
  • Overlay network connectivity in the SD-WAN architecture

The above capabilities don’t require a centralized controller as do most of the traditional SD-WAN vendors.

FortiGate is multitenant at its very core. Virtual domain (VDOM) technology is a testament to this statement, enabling a single, secure gateway instance to be sliced into potentially hundreds of individual gateways.

For more details on the FortiGate SD-WAN capabilities, see Technical background.

FortiGate also:

  • Delivers advanced routing support (RIP, BGP, OSPF, and more)
  • Participates in virtual private network (VPN) pairing as a spoke or hub (concentrator)
  • Brings WAN optimization by means of protocol optimization and byte and object caching
  • Supports traffic shaping and packet priority to ensure that business-critical applications take precedence

The following sections describe some of the key functionality:

FortiGate

With its underlying FortiOS firmware, FortiGate is the product at the foundation of Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution. A key differentiation from other SD-WAN vendors is that the FortiGate Secure SD-WAN platform provides the following key capabilities:

  • Built-in intelligence to decide the best path for a specific application
  • Integrated and native Next-Generation Firewall security inspection
  • Overlay network connectivity in the SD-WAN architecture

The above capabilities don’t require a centralized controller as do most of the traditional SD-WAN vendors.

FortiGate is multitenant at its very core. Virtual domain (VDOM) technology is a testament to this statement, enabling a single, secure gateway instance to be sliced into potentially hundreds of individual gateways.

For more details on the FortiGate SD-WAN capabilities, see Technical background.

FortiGate also:

  • Delivers advanced routing support (RIP, BGP, OSPF, and more)
  • Participates in virtual private network (VPN) pairing as a spoke or hub (concentrator)
  • Brings WAN optimization by means of protocol optimization and byte and object caching
  • Supports traffic shaping and packet priority to ensure that business-critical applications take precedence

The following sections describe some of the key functionality: