Fortinet’s Special Opportunity Calls for Equally Special Leadership

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E. Parizo

• Fortinet has become a $1 billion enterprise security powerhouse, with potential for much more.
• To become the next Cisco, however, Fortinet will need unique, ambitious leadership.

It’s worth taking a moment to consider how far Fortinet has come. From humble beginnings in 2000 as a UTM startup, today Fortinet is a $1 billion enterprise security powerhouse, having shipped nearly twice as many security appliances as Cisco Systems (or anyone else) in the past three years and boasting more than 270,000 customers worldwide.

Fortinet has a unique opportunity. It, along with Palo Alto Networks (PAN), is on pace to surpass rival Cisco in quarterly security appliance revenue as soon as the next 12 months, and unlike PAN, Fortinet has long been profitable. Combine that with its broad product portfolio, its penchant for innovation, and its consistent ability execute in nearly all facets of its business, and it’s clear Fortinet can not only end Cisco’s market dominance, but it is also poised to become the next Cisco.