Fortinet introduced its newest series of next-generation firewalls (NGFW) designed to reduce the energy consumption of cloud computing while providing fast throughput.

While moving toward managed services such as SD-WAN and network-as-a-service (NaaS) are key for businesses when it comes to shifting to the cloud, security is also important.

"Based on our conversations with CIOs and IT leaders, it’s very clear that reducing their organizations’ carbon footprint is a front-and-center priority, and there’s no better place to start than in the data center," Nirav Shah, Fortinet VP of products, told SDxCentral.

As enterprises make the shift to software-as-a-service (SaaS), SD-WAN and NaaS, cloud computing often makes up a significant portion of an their carbon emissions, and increasing efficiency in different areas of the data center is an effective way to lower the environmental impact of enterprises across all industries.

The FortiGate 1000F series requires 83% less watts per Gb/s of firewall throughput, which is the volume of traffic able to pass through a firewall at once, and 86% less watts per Gb/s of IPsec VPN throughput, Shah said. The new firewalls also require less cooling than other competitive firewalls because they generate just 15% of the BTU/h per Gb/s of firewall throughput, according to the vendor.

"Fortinet’s high-performance, low-power network firewalls mean that enterprises require fewer firewalls to accomplish their business needs, helping further reduce costs for space and cooling in the data center," Shah noted.

FortiGate 1000F is powered by the vendor's artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled security services to build a unified security framework while consolidating point security products in a move to reduce complexity. According to Shah, this foundation allows enterprises to create security-first, high-performing data center networks that protect critical data and work to preserve the organization's brand.

"With a single FortiOS operating system converging networking and security, networking and security teams can deliver coordinated, automated threat protection while maintaining a superior user experience," he touted.

Fortinet's Sustainability Footprint

Shah explained that Fortinet's sense of environmental responsibility is expressed through the vendor's work to increase its products' energy efficiency, meet environmental regulations, and further circular economy principles into its operations.

"In 2021, we averaged a 61% reduction in power consumption" compared to the vendor's FortiGate E and FortiGate F series firewalls released over the past two years.

Fortinet Co-founder and CTO Michael Xie said the company's key priorities include improving the performance of its products, reducing power consumption, addressing cooling requirements and technologies, and decreasing the physical size of its products. "These efforts not only make us more competitive but also help our customers save on energy, space, and cooling to help reduce global energy demand," Xie said.

To that point, Fortinet supports various environmental directives relating to materials and waste management, including the EU Restriction of use of certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS), the EU Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and restriction of Chemicals (REACH), and the Waste Framework Directive (WFD).

Another area in which Xie touted Fortinet's progress is product packaging, which he noted "immediately becomes waste once a product is received at a customer site." Fortinet now uses biodegradable packaging for its first-tier product models, replacing plastics with biodegradable paper, cardboard, or recycled by-products. The vendor also designed specific packaging compartments to eliminate plastic bags for antennas or other accessories. "Since implementing this program, we estimate that nearly 430,000 boxes have been manufactured using this new eco-friendly (no-plastic) packaging," Xie said.

In regards to its second-tier products like the FortiGate 40F, 60F, and 70F appliances, the vendor claims to use 100% biodegradable packaging for an estimated 1.5 million packaging boxes, which is equivalent to more than 150 tons in shipping weight, he added.

Fortinet Global Head of Sustainability Barbara Maigret highlighted the vendor's efforts to analyze its product lifecycles to integrate circularity principles at every stage of development. It starts with design, "where we carefully select the materials we use, choosing recycled and renewable resources where possible to use," and follows through to a product's end of life, "where the objective is to make them easier to be repaired or reconditioned to extend their lifespan," Maigret explained.

"We invite all of our customers to contact their Fortinet distributors and resellers to collect their retired or unused Fortinet products for refurbishment and responsible recycling at no charge," she added.