Fortinet, Masergy, and Ingram Micro are packaging their SD-WAN platforms to target value-added resellers and managed service providers (MSPs). The deal furthers Fortinet and Masergy’s long-standing SD-WAN and secure access service edge (SASE) work and taps Ingram Micro’s distribution reach.

The offering includes networking, security, and services designed to make it easier for those sales partners to tap into new market segments.

Fortinet is contributing its Secure SD-WAN platform that integrates its SD-WAN, next-generation firewall, advanced routing, and zero-trust network access proxy functions.

Masergy is providing SD-WAN services from its Guardian Portfolio that allows those sales partners to offer either a Masergy fully managed service or a co-managed service that allows the reseller or MSP to take on tier-one and tier-two client support. This is also Masergy’s first time to offer its managed SD-WAN service through a distribution channel.

The vendors explained that the fully managed platform provides resellers and MSPs with the ability to deepen their recuring revenue models and market opportunities; expand services with lower up-front costs; boost customer loyalty as the tackle new markets; and remove the need for new customers to possess technical certifications for the installation of SD-WAN services.

"For Fortinet, this is all about channel enablement," explained Jon Bove, VP of channel sales at Fortinet, in an email. "We continue to focus on new ways to bring our solutions to market by collaborating with our partners and helping organizations that might not have the operations experience or expertise to implement something like this on their own."

“SD-WAN-as-a-service is a fast-growth, problem-solving sales opportunity for the channel and an area where Ingram Micro continues to expand and invest in our security and networking portfolio and resources,” Eric Kohl, VP of security and networking at Ingram Micro, noted in a statement.

Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research, explained that the partnership allows each of the players to maximize what they can bring to the market in a turnkey model.

"Fortinet provides the equipment, Masergy provides the network and a lot of the services required, and then Ingram brings a lot of the best practices and tools that allow it to scale," Kerravala said.

Masergy was acquired by Comcast Business last August. Its managed SD-WAN and SASE offerings are based on Fortinet’s FortiGate and FortiSASE platforms. Veritcal Systems Group recently ranked Comcast Business second among U.S.-focused carrier-managed SD-WAN providers.

Fortinet has been scoring significant carrier deals with the likes of Orange Business Services, AT&T, Verizon, and Spain-based telecommunications giant Telefónica. It has also scored deals with a handful of MSPs, including Convergia, Eastern Communications, Halo Global, Lintasarta, Ooredoo Qatar, PLDT, and Transtelco.

"I never really thought of Fortinet as a WAN company before SD-WAN, but they have put together a pretty cost-effective solution,"Kerravala said. "Everybody talks about [VeloCloud], and VMware, and Cisco, and these guys have kind of flown under the radar and have won some pretty big deals."

Dell’Oro Group late last year ranked Fortinet as the third-largest SD-WAN vendor by market share behind Cisco and VMware. Meanwhile, Gartner ranked Fortinet as a leader in its WAN Edge Infrastructure Magic Quadrant report.