Fortinet Secures West Virginia University's Network of 50,000 Users

Nov. 4, 2005
Company implements its unified threat management system at large state university

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortinet -- the pioneer and market leader in Unified Threat Management and only provider of ASIC-accelerated, network-based multi-threat security systems for real-time network protection -- today announced that West Virginia University has deployed a comprehensive enterprise network security platform from Fortinet. West Virginia University deployed Fortinet's FortiGate large enterprise security appliances and FortiLog logging and reporting appliance to protect its campus' vast IT network, including approximately 50,000 users across multiple locations, and numerous data services such as voice-over-IP (VoIP), student information systems, financial systems, email, Internet, calendaring services and other multi-platform technologies.

Founded in 1867, West Virginia University is a public institute of higher learning based in Morgantown, West Virginia, with off-site campuses throughout the state. The University's IT staff sought to deploy new network security technology as the campus network, including off-site campus networks and Internet users, was constantly under attack from unwanted and malicious network traffic, including Internet viruses and worms. West Virginia University needed a comprehensive, integrated network security platform to protect its approximately 50,000 students, employees and staff -- and chose Fortinet's FortiGate-3600 enterprise security appliances, FortiLog-800 logging and reporting appliance, and FortiGuard Antivirus and Intrusion Prevention services.

"We were impressed with the FortiGate-3600 enterprise security appliances' ability to block both incoming and outgoing unwanted network traffic -- and the FortiLog system's ability to provide log information across our network security platform -- all without any noticeable delays in traffic flow," said Timothy Williams, director for telecommunications and network operations for West Virginia University. "The FortiGate and FortiLog systems were easy to configure, deployed seamlessly into our existing network and have performed as promised and to our expectations. The fact that the FortiGate and FortiLog systems are highly scalable is an added bonus as our Internet bandwidth continues to grow."

Enterprise Security Appliances for Distributed University Campus Protection

To secure its multi-platform network environment consisting of Apple, Linux, UNIX and Windows platforms running critical campus applications, West Virginia University deployed a network security platform with Fortinet's flagship ASIC-accelerated enterprise security appliances. Three FortiGate-3600 large enterprise security appliances are deployed at the University's Internet gateway through which all network traffic coming into and leaving the campus is filtered and scanned for viruses, intrusions and other unwanted network traffic. Fortinet's FortiGuard(TM) Antivirus and Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) Subscription Services equip the FortiGate systems with automatic updates of antivirus and intrusion prevention signatures to deliver real-time protection against constantly evolving Internet threats.

West Virginia University deployed two additional FortiGate-3600 systems for testing new versions of security policies and updates. The University also deployed Fortinet's FortiLog-800 enterprise logging and reporting appliance to provide centralized log reports across all of its FortiGate systems and its Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) system. In this capacity, the FortiLog-800 system provides the University with a comprehensive view of network usage and security information across its network security infrastructure and VoIP system.

"Large universities with distributed and multi-platform campus networks require enterprise network security platforms that are flexible to meet numerous and varied network protection requirements, and essential for academic settings with constantly increasing data bandwidth needs," said Ken Xie, founder, president and CEO of Fortinet. "We are proud to deliver West Virginia University with the scalable enterprise security appliances that its complex campus network requires, while reducing the amount of resources needed to maintain its network -- saving the University time and money towards focusing on its academic accomplishments."

To learn more about Fortinet's FortiGate security appliances and FortiLog logging and reporting appliances, visit http://www.fortinet.com/products/.

To read a complete case study, highlighting West Virginia University's Fortinet deployment for enterprise security, visit: http://www.fortinet.com/doc/cases/WestVirginiaUniversity.pdf.