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Network security specialist Fortinet announced the launch of four rugged products, including networking, security and wireless devices purpose-built to meet the standards of public utilities, oil and gas, mining, manufacturing and the transportation industries that operate in harsh physical environments.
The company’s rugged and outdoor products are industrially hardened appliances that deliver enterprise-class connectivity and security for critical control systems facing malicious attacks, as well as extreme weather and other demanding physical environments.
The release of the FortiGate Rugged 60D, FortiGate Rugged 90D, FortiAP 222C and FortiSwitch 112D-PoE marks another step in the company’s critical infrastructure presence, which has expanded to include many global petroleum refiners as well as global utilities organizations.
“Purpose-built to withstand the extreme weather conditions from -40 to 60 degrees Celsius that often accompany deployment to protect industrial control systems that pass through many diverse climates around the world, our rugged devices utilize specialized hardware components that meet or exceed industrial standard thermal, EMI and other requirements, as well Ingress Protection (IP) ratings for weather proofing,” John Maddison, vice president of marketing products for Fortinet, told eWEEK.
The dedicated security appliances also offer security intelligence powered by FortiGuard Labs with an emphasis on ICS threats and systems plus consolidated wired and wireless networking.
Other features include industrial control-specific capabilities, such as application awareness and protocol support, in form factors designed in accordance with international substation automation standards IEC 61850-3 and IEEE 1613 and fanless, cableless design.
“Given the criticality of the infrastructure being protected, there’s strong demand for reliability and availability—and specifically a high mean time between failure for the devices, along with dual power inputs, hardware bypass capability and high availability software support to avoid downtime in the event of a failure,” Maddison said. “Additionally, customers require that we give them the tools to recognize and secure ICS-specific applications, operating systems, automated controls and protocols. These range from things like dynamic positioning systems to older operating systems like Windows 98 to protocols such as DNP3 and much more.”
According to Maddison, the ability to identify, prioritize, connect and secure this type of operational technology, as well as information technology, is a critical part of ensuring that resiliency.
The appliances also integrate switching and wireless access that delivers connectivity as well as security for automated systems anywhere in the world; strong remote configuration and management; and central monitoring and reporting to ensure high availability and demonstrated compliance capabilities.
The FortiGate Rugged 60D and FortiAP 222C are currently available, while the FortiSwitch 1112D-PoE and FortiGate Rugged 90D are expected to be available later in the fourth quarter.
“Our rugged models are designed to protect highly distributed infrastructure systems, which are generally comprised of a large number of small locations,” Maddison said. “Accordingly, the technical requirements—and thus the per unit price—are relatively low compared to other (midrange and high-end) models in the portfolio. This makes them affordable for organizations of all sizes—the cost scaling with the size of the organization and network.”
As an example, he noted, the company not only has some of the world’s largest electric utilities using Fortinet products but also smaller electric cooperatives and supporting service companies.