Fortinet CEO Ken Xie is recognized for channel leadership, while the company is hailed as a strong resource in CRN’s esteemed solutions and services guide
SUNNYVALE, Calif. August 11, 2014 – Fortinet® (NASDAQ:FTNT), a world leader in high-performance network security – today announced that the company has received a prestigious award and inclusion in a top network program guide by leading channel publication CRN, recognizing the company’s ongoing commitment to its channel team as it continues to innovate in partner education, enablement and profitability.
Fortinet CEO Ken Xie was named to the prestigious 2014 CRN Top 100 list, recognizing executives that have had significant commitment to helping empower the channel through education, training and other channel programs. Fortinet has also been included in the CRN 2014 Network Connectivity Services Partner Program Guide (PPG), a resource that highlights service providers and technology vendors with offerings that support, enable and propel today’s mission-critical network connectivity solutions.
“Fortinet is honored to have made CRN’s Top 100 list, and is proud to be included as a strong and reliable resource in its Network Connectivity Services Partner Program Guide,” said Joe Sykora, vice president of Americas sales operations and channels at Fortinet. “This award and recognition is indicative of Fortinet’s long-term commitment to partner enablement as we continue to develop, refine and innovate around our channel program. Our channel investment is paying off — Fortinet can attribute its immense success to the hard work and bullish sales of our channel partners, who continue to bring our solutions to an ever expanding market.”
CRN Top 100 List
CRN’s 2014 Top 100 list is a compilation of key players that influence and shape the way the channel does business. These 100 leaders, hand-picked by the CRN editorial staff, represent the top influencers, sales leaders, innovators and disruptors in the IT channel.
The CRN Top 100 list is based on feedback gathered from technology solution providers throughout the year by CRN editors with rankings reflecting each company’s channel influence, effectiveness and visibility, along with its business and sales impact on the IT channel. Among the criteria considered are channel sales volume, channel investment and resources, channel advocacy, and performance in research projects conducted by The Channel Company’s CRN Intelligence research arm, including its esteemed Annual Report Card and Channel Champions reports.
“The CRN Top 100 list is the ‘Who’s Who’ of the IT channel,” said Robert Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company. “Each individual on this list has left an indelible stamp on the IT channel this year. Some are industry veterans with innovative leadership styles. Others are rising stars who have demonstrated a deep commitment to the channel. All deserve recognition for helping push the channel forward toward new market opportunities.”
Fortinet CEO Ken Xie received this accolade for his leadership that has been instrumental in building innovative and profit-oriented programs, designing comprehensive education and training and creating numerous enablement opportunities for partners. Under Xie’s leadership, Fortinet recently created a new Network Security Certification program designed to help partners demonstrate knowledge and expertise on the full range of Fortinet products, and differentiate in the marketplace when approaching new customers. Prior to that, Fortinet further expanded channel education and reach with the launch of new segmented online courses strategically-designed for self-paced instruction and at no cost to all registered Fortinet channel partners.
CRN’s Network Connectivity Services Partner Program Guide
Aligning with consolidation trends, IT solution providers, telecom and Internet service providers (ISPs) have continued to integrate and merge as customers have increasingly demanded a single services and support relationship for all of their voice, data and Internet needs. To that end, CRN’s annual Network Connectivity Services PPG has become a critical resource that allows solution providers to locate vendors offering complementary connectivity solutions and services. All of the vendors featured in this guide have partner programs that embrace the IT channel.
As the third largest network security company in the world, Fortinet provides a broad and diverse portfolio of network security products and subscription services to customers around the globe, offering integrated and high-performance protection against advanced threats, while simplifying and streamlining IT security infrastructure. Fortinet recently exceeded high-performance standards in carrier and enterprise markets by being the first network security vendor to deliver a firewall – the new FortiGate 5144C – exceeding 1 terabit per second (Tbps) throughput performance. Prior to that, the company deepened its presence in the mid-market by unveiling two new next-generation firewall platforms – the FortiGate-300D and FortiGate-500D – that provide mid-enterprises with five times next-generation performance for defense against advanced threats. Fortinet also expanded its cloud services play by enhancing its existing FortiWeb-VM Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) for Amazon Web Services (AWS) to include on-demand, pay-as-you-go offerings.
Both the CRN Top 100 honorees and the Network Connectivity Services Partner Program Guide will be featured in the August issue of CRN, the top news source for solution providers and the IT channel, and will be available online at www.crn.com.
About the Channel Company
The Channel Company is the channel community’s trusted authority for growth and innovation, with established brands including CRN, XChange Events, IPED, and SharedVue. For more than three decades, we have leveraged our proven and leading-edge platforms to deliver prescriptive sales and marketing solutions for the technology channel. The Channel Company provides Communication, Recruitment, Engagement, Enablement, Demand Generation and Intelligence services to drive technology partnerships. Learn more at www.thechannelcompany.com.
About Fortinet
Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) helps protect networks, users and data from continually evolving threats. As a global leader in high-performance network security, we enable businesses and governments to consolidate and integrate stand-alone technologies without suffering performance penalties. Unlike costly, inflexible and low-performance alternatives, Fortinet solutions empower customers to embrace new technologies and business opportunities while protecting essential systems and content. Learn more at www.fortinet.com.
