Fortinet expands PH unit

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Network security vendor Fortinet aims to increase its presence in the Philippines by focusing on the telecommunications and government sectors.

George Chang, Fortinet vice president for Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, said in a recent briefing here that Fortinet’s future investments in the country would come in the form of ground support that will cater to the needs of current and future customers.

“In the next years, at the least we’re going to put more headcount into these particular areas and a support team as well on the ground,” Chang said during a group discussion with media.

“We believe that’s important. For our company to move forward, we need to understand our customers better and support them better as well. The investments will come in those areas,” Chang added.

Fortinet has been in the Philippines since 2004 but the local country office was set up only in 2010.

It sells its products primarily through its distributor MSI-ECS Phils. Inc. and other channel partners.

Apart from telecommunications and government sectors, Fortinet is also looking at tapping enterprises in the country.

Chang said the rise of e-commerce, Web-based applications and new technological devices were among the factors that would drive spending in network security in the coming years.

Forecasts by business consulting firm Frost and Sullivan show that the network security market in Asia Pacific could hit $2.5 billion this year and reach $3.1 billion in 2016.

In the Philippines, the network security market is projected to grow by an average of 19.4 percent in the next few years.

Patrice Perche, Fortinet senior vice president for international and sales support, said the company was looking at a 30-percent revenue growth in the region this year from 20 percent last year.

Fortinet expects faster growth in its business in Asia Pacific on the back of the company’s expanding product portfolio, Perche said.

Its newest products, the FortiADC-1500D, FortiADC-2000D and FortiADC-4000D, represent an expansion of Fortinet’s Application Delivery Controller lineup, which provides high performance, rich features and strong security for high-volume application environments while reducing overall total cost of ownership.

At the same time, Fortinet plans to beef up its channel partners and increase its investments in some countries in the region.

It has a direct presence in 61 countries and has over 20,000 distributors and resellers worldwide.

In terms of market share, Fortinet has set its sights on becoming the second largest network security vendor in Asia Pacific by the end of the year.

Based on the recent IDC Worldwide Security Appliance Tracker, Fortinet currently ranks third in the Asia-Pacific market with a share of 6.62 percent.

Cisco occupies the top spot with a market share of 14.36 percent while Check Point ranks second with a share of 6.68 percent.

Fortinet, a listed company on Nasdaq since 2009, is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.