Fortinet FortiGate is a line of products that includes a series of network appliances. An appliance is defined as a discrete hardware device with integrated software, optimized to give specific features. The single device integrates networking and security features to achieve what is called a Unified Threat Management (UTM) approach to security.
The main advantages of the UTM viewpoint are:
Consolidation of security functions on a single device. We are not required to reiterate several times the same filters on different devices.
Consolidated administrative interface based on a single management console.
Consistent updates across all the devices involved in UTM.
Based on the aforementioned approach to security, a FortiGate is able to grant:
Networking services at layer 2 and layer 3 (switching and routing, both static and dynamic)
Network security services (firewalling, secure VPN connection, intrusion detection, and endpoint security)
Application security services (spam and virus controls, web filtering, application control, and data leak prevention)
Note
Fortinet uses proprietary chipsets and a processor known as a Content Processor (CP) ASIC. The main advantage of this architecture is to address the performance issues that could be associated with the UTM approach. For more details see the FortiGate Hardware Guide: http://docs.fortinet.com/fgt/handbook/40mr3/fortigate-hardware-40-mr3.pdf.