How a next-generation firewall and a single pane of glass management tool replaced legacy hardware.

It Was Time to Make the Switch

When you know, you know. That was the realization a Midwest manufacturing company came to grips with, when they understood, the time had come to replace their Barracuda Firewalls and Email Protection solutions it had relied on at the edge for so long.

The company has locations in a handful of states, and network visibility was becoming a real problem. So too, was its network management capabilities. There was no centralized management console, and as a result, IT was having to go to each firewall individually to make any changes, which was, in their words, “exhausting.”

With the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks on the rise, the question wasn’t whether the security solution needed to be replaced, but rather, what would it be replaced with?

Centralized Management to The Rescue!

The answer came from the company’s former IT Director, who switched jobs earlier in the year, and now works for Mainline Information Systems who is a technology solutions provider with more than 30 years of industry experience.

Having knowledge of the network, he knew firsthand what security gaps needed to be addressed and the best way to go about closing them. Though he no longer worked at the company, he had the organization’s best interest at heart and was still held in high regard by his former employer.

After researching different security vendors, the manufacturing company chose the Fortinet Security Fabric platform and management capabilities over competitors such as Palo Alto Networks. They liked the fact that Fortinet’s FortiGate Firewall paired with FortiManager enables complete visibility and centralized management of the Fortinet Security fabric from a single pane of glass. This includes automated network configuration, security policy management, and protection against security threats.

Firing up in the Fall & Advanced Malware Protection Ahead

The conversation about migrating to Fortinet started in January. The decision was finalized in June and the entire FortiGate FortiManager Solution, not just a firewall replacement, will be deployed into production this fall. The solution has already been configured, tested, and is all set, ready to go.

With the manufacturing company currently using FortiMail, a malware tool for filtering email, they have already experienced a Fortinet solution having a positive impact on their organization.
And now, its goal of having a next-generation firewall with total visibility and management capabilities of all their networking appliances from one console has been achieved and will soon be reality.

But there’s much more on the horizon.

Understanding the power of a fully integrated Fortinet Security Fabric, they realized the significant benefits of purchasing FortiSwitches and utilizing the controller capabilities built into the solution at no additional cost.

In addition, the company is considering additional Fortinet solutions, including URL web filtering, encryption and decryption of web traffic, and a few other’s that are part of the Security Fabric.

That’s key for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the organization will be able to clearly show that it’s adhering to the security framework of CMMC compliance.
The ability to prove that it has excellent hygiene around the security framework can be the difference in keeping or losing government contracts.

By undertaking this project, this company has come a long way in providing game-changing, next-generation network security, in less than one year.

Making the “big switch” was easier and more cost-effective than anticipated. And now, those security gaps that were once problematic, are truly a thing of the past.