For many network devices, the operating system is everything. Ports and throughput are give great numbers, but the OS is the power behind the throne.
Fortinet Inc. will upgrade the FortiOS operating system to version 5.0 for its FortiGate security devices at the end of the month with what it says are 150 new features and enhancements.
But according to Kevin Flynn, the company’s senior product marketing manager, a handful are the most significant.
“It’s a reaction to changes in the threat environment,” he said of the changes.
They include
–multitask filtering, which creates a sandbox on devices where behaviour and attribute-based heuristic detection can analyze suspicious traffic;
–the ability to set mobile device-based security policies – say, one for laptops, one for tablets, or a different policy for each person. “This is giving customers a lot more flexibility in dealing with the devices coming into the network,” Flynn said.
—-integrated guest access with security, so occasional users of the network can get specialized credentials. One feature is the ability to time-limit network access.
There’s also version 5.0 of the FortiClient for Windows and Mac, which now offers protects mobile devices when users are off the corporate Internet. This is configured through a FortiGate appliance.
The changes means there are also updated versions of each Fortinet appliance operating system. FortiManager 5.0 now offers the ability to drag and drop policies between panes, direct in-view policy object editing and a new script UI facility, the company said, while The FortiAnalyzer 5.0 family of logging and reporting appliances offers better data visualization than the previous version.
