Fortinet scored another service provider victory today after Verizon Business announced plans to offer the vendor’s Secure SD-WAN platform.

According to Verizon, the managed service tackles the challenges faced by enterprises as they transition to remote and hybrid work models, which executives say have introduced new avenues for threat actors to exploit.

Fortinet’s SD-WAN provides an additional layer of security that can help “safeguard your employees, your business, and ultimately your customers against cyberattacks,” Sampath Sowmyanarayan, Verizon Business chief revenue officer, said in a statement.

Fortinet’s SD-WAN is available in several form factors, including both physical and virtual appliances. However, only the company’s FortiGate next-generation firewalls benefit from its internally-developed networking and security ASICs. The company claims these appliances offer significant advantages over running the service on traditional x86 white box hardware.

The appliances also support a wide range of traditional and modern WAN architectures including MPLS, broadband, dedicated internet access, and cellular connectivity.

According to Verizon, these capabilities also help address the rapid rise in data breaches in 2021. The communication service provider’s latest Data Breach Investigation Report analyzed 29,207 incidents of which 5,258 were confirmed breaches. The report found an 11% increase in phishing attacks while ransomware rose by 6%. Of those breaches, Verizon reports 85% were the result of human error.

According to Grant Lenahan, principal analyst at Appledore Research, automation is among the best weapons and one of SD-WAN’s greatest strengths in combatting human error.

Today’s announcement marks the latest in a slew of service provider wins. Last week, Spain-based telecommunications giant Teleónica announced an expanded relationship with the security and networking vendor to include SD-WAN.

And earlier this year, Fortinet announced four new partnerships with Commandlink, DNA, Syringa Networks, and Telecom Italia.

“With these partnerships, Fortinet’s Secure SD-WAN solution will be extended geographically around the world as service providers are able to grow their businesses and revenue margins with the creation of managed SD-WAN and security services,” Fortinet CMO John Maddison said at the time.

And thanks to these wins, Dell’Oro Group ranks Fortinet as the third-largest SD-WAN vendor by market share behind Cisco and VMware.