It’s sort of a compliment, really. Fortinet’s smokin’ fast FG-80F Next-Gen firewall has been flying off the shelves since it’s release. In fact, they’ve been tough to get a hold of. Finally, that’s starting to change. So your friends at Corporate Armor think now is a good time to give you a quick rundown on this exciting little firewall.
The FG-80F is the latest in Fortinet’s “F” series, following the 40F, 60F, and 100F. It is an upgrade on the very good FG-80E.
The FortiGate 80F is a SECURE SD-WAN and security appliance. In other words, it protects what’s inside your perimeter (firewall), PLUS what’s on the freeways leading out of it. SD-WAN gives extra secure, quick access to cloud-connected applications so important these days. For example, think of Dropbox, GitHub, Salesforce, and Office 365…
Fortinet’s super-secure approach is characterized by snap deployment and management which is granular and detailed, but still clear and intuitive. This is all possible because of the FG-80F’s new, ridiculously fast SoC4 processor.
The SoC4 is the first processor of it’s kind. The fact that it’s no longer the only of it’s kind tells you all you need to know about whether it works or not! For example, this ground-breaking little chip identifies and steers for over 5,000 known cloud applications! But I hear you thinking…
Gimme some numbers on the FG-80F!
Thought you’d never ask. The FortiGate 80F pushes 4 Gbps total Firewall Throughput, and 360 Mbps of Next Gen Firewall Throughput. You also get 450 Mbps of IPS Throughput and 200 Mbps of SSL VPN Throughput, with firewall latency at 3 microseconds. The FG-80F is good for up to 100 users.
In short, the FortiGate 80F sort of bullies other appliances in it’s price range. That may change as the other guys catch up, (maybe). But, consider that at the moment, the FG-80F’s Firewall Throughput is 8x greater (on average) than similar-priced firewalls with their drowsy, generic CPU’s.
In addition, FG-80F handles 7x more Concurrent Sessions, and 16x the IPsec VPN! Oh, and 3x the Threat Prevention Throughput. Indeed, Fortinet’s little elves have been busy!
The FG-80F even roughs up it’s own stable-mates. Compared to the (very good) FG-80E, you get 4x the UTM Throughput, and greater connections-per-second by an order of magnitude!
FortiGate 80F: WHO NEEDS IT?
Another great question! This model is most suited for the “M” part of “SMB.” In other words, mid-sized businesses, and also large branch offices. There’s really nothing entry-level about what this appliance can do.
HERE’S THE UPDATE PART:
Now, the FortiGate 80F is being offered in a PoE option (read about PoE and PoE+ here). Why should you care about PoE? Well, Power over Ethernet delivers electrical power to PoE-enabled devices using your CATx (CAT-5, CAT-6, etc.) network cables. Since you don’t need to run electrical wiring, PoE saves money in materials and install time. It’s also flexible, especially for remote applications, since it doesn’t require a nearby electrical outlet. These and other benefits have led to a big increase in PoE’s popularity in recent years. However, the limiting factor has always been power.
The way PoE works is simple. Ethernet cable that meets CATx standards consists of four twisted pairs of cable. Simply put, PoE sends power over these pairs to PoE-enabled devices. First PoE standards use two twisted pairs to transmit data, while the remaining two pairs are used for power transmission. However, the new PoE standards allow power and data to be sent over all four twisted pairs.
In the long run, POE costs somewhat more. But, it will save you a lot of headaches when devices that require higher power levels do come onto your network.
As always, we’d love to tell you more about the FortiGate 80F, or PoE technology in general. So, why not give us a call at 877-449-0458, or reach out at [email protected]? Thanks for reading!
FortiGate 80F At-A-Gance
| 360 Mbps of Next Gen Firewall Throughput |
| 450 Mbps of IPS Throughput |
| 200 Mbps of SSL VPN Throughput |
| Power Over Ethernet option now available |