Fortinet Deepens its Dedication to Flexible Licensing with Expansion of FortiFlex Program

John Maddison, EVP Products and CMO at Fortinet 

“The solutions organizations deploy today are becoming more flexible to support highly distributed users and applications. Licensing models should be just as flexible. That’s why we’re excited to expand our FortiFlex program to give customers more licensing options to utilize Fortinet solutions and services according to their evolving needs.”

News Summary

Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today announced new product and service additions to its FortiFlex program, delivering even more flexible licensing options to customers. FortiFlex already includes a complete suite of virtualized solutions for protecting cloud and virtual data center deployments and now supports services for physical FortiGate next-generation firewall (NGFW) appliances. FortiFlex is also available beginning today via a private offer in AWS Marketplace as an additional purchasing option.

Driving Business Value with Usage-Based Licensing

With highly distributed users accessing highly distributed applications and a growing number of edges, networks are evolving at an unprecedented rate. IT teams are often expected to procure and deploy solutions before they have a full understanding of their needs—and those needs frequently change. Flexible licensing programs, which allow organizations to pay by usage, have emerged as a solution to this challenge. While there will always be a need for traditional product licensing models, usage-based pricing offers customers an additional way to leverage the solutions they need and adapt to their business’ dynamic needs.

FortiFlex: Flexible Access to Cybersecurity Solutions

FortiFlex offers usage-based licensing for a wide range of Fortinet’s cybersecurity solutions across cloud, hybrid cloud, and on-premises deployments. It uses a points system that makes it easy to understand available balance, usage trends, and total spend. Organizations are charged in 24-hour periods to give IT teams the flexibility to right-size their deployments each day.

Customers can use points to deploy any mix of cloud and virtual machine offerings as well as services for on-premises deployments. They can even leverage budget committed to select cloud providers—including Google Cloud and, as of today, AWS—to purchase FortiFlex points. 

These features allow organizations to leverage FortiFlex in a variety of ways. Key use cases include:

• Reducing excessive procurement cycles for new security solutions
• Simplifying the deployment and provisioning of new services through FortiFlex’s powerful APIs
• Maximizing budget and return on investment (ROI) by scaling down or pausing services as needed
• Optimizing cloud spend by utilizing “use it or lose it” dollars committed to cloud providers to purchase FortiFlex points that can be redeemed in the future

Managed security service providers (MSSPs) can also use a single FortiFlex account to pool licenses across their entire customer base to easily migrate and reassign licenses with ease. This means MSSPs can address their customers’ needs without worrying about overbuying—all from a single interface.

Support for Hybrid Mesh Firewall

FortiFlex now includes FortiGuard AI-powered Security Services and FortiCare technical support for the following entry and mid-range physical FortiGate NGFWs:

• FortiGate 40F
• FortiGate 60E/F series
• FortiGate 70F
• FortiGate 80F
• FortiGate 100E/F series
• FortiGate 200 E/F series
• FortiGate 400F
• FortiGate 600F

Backed by a single operating system, FortiOS, and a unified management console, FortiManager, all FortiGate NGFWs support hybrid mesh firewall, a term coined by Gartner.®¹ It’s defined as a security architecture that protects multiple areas of enterprise IT by coordinating threat intelligence and security policies across firewalls. With today’s news, customers have more licensing options to easily build a hybrid mesh firewall architecture.

A Powerful Option for AWS Enterprise Discount Program Customers

FortiFlex is now available as a private offer in AWS Marketplace to support customers using the AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP). AWS EDP offers high-volume AWS account owners a discount in exchange for a minimum spending threshold.

FortiFlex helps AWS EDP members reduce their minimum threshold and spending liability by converting portions to FortiFlex points. This gives customers the flexibility to use their budget to secure the best price for AWS and leverage Fortinet’s industry-leading secure networking products and services.

Continued Commitment to Customer Choice

Our mission at Fortinet is to make it as easy as possible for customers to procure and deploy the cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions they need—whenever and however works best for them. Today’s FortiFlex announcement is a testament to this vision, and we’re committed to expanding flexible licensing and purchasing options across even more Fortinet solutions and services in the coming months. Our ultimate goal is to give customers the power of choice when determining the best way to address their unique challenges.

Supporting Quotes

“Flexible licensing is growing in popularity because it allows enterprises to be nimble in the face of the shifting networking and cybersecurity landscape. With its expanded usage-based licensing program, Fortinet is distinguishing itself by giving customers even more choices for how they address technical demands and manage cost.”
– Philip Bues, Research Manager, Cloud Security, at International Data Corporation (IDC)

“Our customers’ needs are changing rapidly and usage-based licensing expedites procurement and deployment of the best solutions to protect their critical assets. Being able to offer flexible licensing through the FortiFlex Program helps us meet our customers’ needs, optimize their investments, and stand out from the competition.”
– Chris Konrad, Area Vice President, Global Cyber, at World Wide Technology

“We pride ourselves on cutting through the complexity to give our customers the best, most seamless experience possible, and Fortinet’s flexible licensing program has helped us do just that. With FortiFlex, we can pool all our licenses together, giving us the visibility and flexibility to scale up and down across accounts to deliver the right level of support our customers need. This is great for our business and for our customers.”
– Navdeep Saini, Director of Cloud Platform at Centroid

Additional Resources

¹Gartner, Hype Cycle™ for Workload and Network Security, Charlie Winckless, 18 July 2022.

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner and Hype Cycle are a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.