According to the duo, Fortinet will combine FortiGate – the world’s most deployed next-generation firewall - with specialist NEC networking technology to develop carrier-grade and sustainable 5G networks.
Fortinet and NEC claim they will enable CSPs to “gain deep visibility into users, applications, and threats with a single pane of glass and effectively protect themselves from known and unknown threats in the 5G era”. The companies claimed the partnership will focus on key network security use cases and services, such as Radio Access Network (RAN), Mobile Roaming, Gi-LAN/N6 and Telco/Edge Cloud Security.
Hideyuki Ogata, general manager for service provider solutions at NEC Corporation, said: “The global partnership with Fortinet is a perfect fit for NEC Open Networks’ ecosystem to enable our services to meet the customer’s urgent and diverse needs for network security in the 5G era.
“NEC’s Centres of Excellence already have rich experience in network security, including the recent success with Fortinet for CETIN and others. This partnership promises to further enrich our service portfolio facing customers as a global network integrator.”
As the network integrator, NEC said it would leverage Fortinet’s high-performance security solutions including automation capabilities and AI-driven threat intelligence solutions to deliver customer-oriented and carrier-grade services across more than 150 countries.