BT’s latest Managed SD WAN service offering leverages the power of Fortinet’s Secure SD WAN technology. This solution is built on the foundation of the FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) which integrates SD WAN networking capabilities with SASE security features. This integration is further enhanced by the use of BT’s UK and Global Internet backbone which offers SLA’s across latency, jitter and MTTR (mean time to repair).
One of the key features of BT’s Managed WAN Fortinet service is the capability to managed both the underlay and overlay from one central cloud-based portal. The BT portal provides advanced routing and bandwidth management capabilities which enables your IT team to optimise the performance of applications and services running across the WAN. Organisations that rely heavily on cloud-based services and applications benefit from Fortinet’s capability with BT underlay performance.
Another important aspect of the BT Managed WAN service is SASE cybersecurity. The FortiGate NGFW comprehensive suite of security features which include a stateful firewall, intrusion prevention system (IPS) and advanced threat protection. These features work together to provide a high level of security for network traffic ensuring protection against threats.
BT Managed WAN can be deployed in a variety of network environments, from single-site networks to complex multi-site Global networks managed centrally through the FortiManager platform.
BT in partnership with Fortinet bolsters business agility by allowing users to connect from any location, at any time and through any Internet connection to cloud-hosted applications or data centers. This level of flexibility is crucial in today’s hybrid working environments.
How Does BT’s Fortinet Managed SD WAN Solution Work?
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Application Resilience | BT Fortinet SD WAN ensures the highest level of application availability and performance over any WAN transport. |
| Integrated Advanced Security | BT with Fortinet offers the most advanced NGFW and routing to deliver consistent security. |
| Scalable, High Performance | BT Fortinet SD WAN transforms and secures SD WAN at scale with no performance impact thanks to their ASIC hardware. |
| Multi-Cloud On-Ramp | Supports high performance between cloud applications. |
| Zero-Touch Provisioning | Supports faster deployment of BT Fortinet Secure SD WAN. |
| Centralized Orchestration | BT Fortinet SD WAN centrally manages deployments, configurations and operations with visibility, analytics & reporting. |
| SASE Capabilities | BT with FortiSASE extends secure access and high-performance connectivity to users regardless of their geographic locations delivering a full set of networking and security capabilities including secure web gateway (SWG), universal zero-trust network access (ZTNA), next-generation dual-mode cloud access security broker (CASB), Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) and secure SD WAN integration. |
| End-to-End Visibility, Analytics, and Reporting | BT Fortinet Secure SD WAN with FortiManager and FortiAnalyser provide granular visibility into network traffic, traffic data and automate response based on the results. |
| Seamless Transition to SASE and SD-Branch | BT Fortinet Secure SD WAN is foundational for a seamless transition to SASE and SD-Branch, enabling organisations to protect their investment and simplify operations along their journey to a Zero Trust Architecture. |
| AI-Powered Security Services | BT Fortinet Secure SD WAN supports the seamless convergence of SD WAN and AI-powered security using a single consistent operating system, FortiOS which offers a unified security and management framework for users and networks based on ASIC-accelerated SD WAN, Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and SASE to support high-performance prevention. |
Fortinet enhances resilience by extending SD WAN to incorporate the SD-Branch which includes LAN and Wi-Fi components to maximise uptime. The BT product enables a combination of physical hardware and virtual devices which adds an extra layer of robustness to your network.
BT’s Managed Fortinet SD WAN provides a high level of visibility into your network. Customers can access their FortiAnalyser with read-only privileges which offers features such as network monitoring, log view and the ability to run predefined security reports. This level of insight is invaluable for IT decision-makers for proactive management and swift resolution of potential issues.
The Benefits of BT’s Fortinet Managed SD WAN Solution
One of the main business benefits of Fortinet with BT is the simplification of your vendor ecosystem, reducing costs and demands on your IT team. As an all-encompassing solution that caters to your networking needs, your team is able to focus on other critical tasks. While BT also offer Meraki SD WAN, Fortinet is renowned for its comprehensive Cloud security performance and capabilities whereas as Meraki also offers excellent security but is more of an all-round product offering.
Fortinet’s SD WAN solution is distinguished by its proprietary security processors – their ASIC hardware. In a similar way to the latest Apple silicon, Fortinet processors are developed in-house by Fortinet which provides a level of integration and performance that’s ahead of competitors. This focus and approach to security is the enabler to complete WAN security.
BT Fortinet SD WAN is powered by the advanced FortiOS 7.0, is an integrated cybersecurity platform designed to span the extended digital attack surface and provide consistent security across all networks, endpoints, and clouds.
As part of BT’s Fortinet SD WAN solution, FortiOS 7.0 offers enhanced visibility and control which supports the foundation for consistent deployment and enforcement of security policies across branch-offices, remote users and their devices (BYoD). FortiOS integrates centralised management via the BT portal which allows complete end-to-end management of your solution.
FortiOS 7.0 delivers a dynamic security posture to support remote working from anywhere in a global basis. Business users and devices receive secure access to SaaS applications and data from wherever they are deployed with security that automatically assesses and adapts to match the risk. This feature is powered by Fortinet’s Security Fabric which delivers converged networking and security into a single integrated solution that can expand to any edge.
The latest BT capability integrates over 300 new features to further support continuous protection for data, users, devices, endpoints and applications across Internet connectivity and multi-cloud environments.
Managing a network can be a complex task, especially as your organisation grows. The BT implementation of FortiManager provides visibility and control over your entire network with the capability to automate, orchestrate and respond from a single interface.
BT’s Managed Fortinet SD WAN Summary Matrix
| Component | Details |
|---|---|
| FortiGate Next Generation Firewall |
|
| FortiOS-Networking | Prioritise application traffic per WAN link, mark/remark DSCP bits for influencing traffic QoS on egress devices, application steering based on ToS marking |
| FortiManager | We use FortiManager as our internal management tool to provides centralised configuration, change management, dashboard, application policies, QoS, security policies, application specific SLA & active probe configuration |
| FortiAnalyser | Monitor your SD WAN performance, view your application and website traffic, monitor the top security threats to your network and view global and local security threat research |
The Role of BT’s Fortinet Managed SD WAN Solution in Network Transformation
BT’s Managed Fortinet SD WAN is a versatile solution that can benefit a wide range of customers. While the product has been particularly successful in the retail and hospitality sectors, any industry with multiple sites can benefit from its features.
In partnership with BT, Fortinet supports digital transformation through their advanced solution capabilities with a focus on business-critical traffic and real-time applications for improved app performance. BT’s single-pane-of-glass interface enables Zero-touch deployment and ongoing user or branch-office management.
With Fortinet’s integration of SASE security features into remote users and branches, the WAN is transformed because users are empowered to work from anywhere and across any underlay connectivity whether this is home-broadband or 4G connectivity from a cafe.
BT’s solution experts provide support at every stage of deployment and operation from initial set-up through to ongoing monitoring, management and improvements. With many organisations continuing to adapt to a distributed and remote workforce model, BT Fortnet Managed SD WAN provides customers with secure access to their applications and data by extending zero trust controls from the network to the Cloud Edge via Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).
