Cyber Security

The protection of internet-connected systems, including hardware, software and data, from cyberattacks

Fortinet Named Overall Leader for Third Consecutive Year in Westlands Advisory 2025 IT/OT Security Report

Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today announced that Westlands Advisory, a leading OT security industry analysis and strategy firm, has once again named Fortinet as the Overall Leader in the IT/OT Network Protection Platform Navigator 2025 report, earning the top ranking in both strategic direction and capability for IT/OT.

Since its inception and for the third time in a row, the latest report from Westlands Advisory highlights Fortinet’s extensive OT network security experience, noting that “OT cybersecurity has been a key strategic pillar” for Fortinet, “resulting in significant innovation, product expansion, growing alliances, and increasing market share.”

“For more than 20 years, organizations have trusted Fortinet to protect operational technology environments and ensure compliance with the evolving needs of OT infrastructures. Fortinet uniquely delivers a comprehensive OT security platform, built from the ground up with the industry’s most advanced threat detection and protection capabilities to enable converged IT/OT infrastructure,” said Nirav Shah, Senior Vice President, Products and Solutions at Fortinet. “Our latest recognition from Westlands Advisory reflects the deep and growing trust our customers, partners, and the broader OT security community place in Fortinet.”

Delivering Secure IT/OT Network Convergence

The Fortinet OT Security Platform is unique in its ability to provide end-to-end network segmentation, OT asset and network visibility, network segmentation and microsegmentation, and advanced threat protection in a unified platform that is centrally managed and automated. With deep integration into the Fortinet Security Fabric, the OT Security Platform improves cyber resiliency and production reliability, lowers time to deployment, and simplifies operations to further support the protection of critical infrastructure and OT infrastructure from evolving cyberthreats.

The Westlands Advisory report addresses several key benefits of the Fortinet OT Security Platform for customers, including:

  • Broad, integrated, high-performance security solutions and services across IT and OT infrastructures: Westlands Advisory highlights Fortinet’s delivery of a single platform across IT and OT to help reduce cyber risks across the entire organization. The OT Security Platform, an extension of the Fortinet Security Fabric, uniquely provides the widest and deepest breadth of networking and cybersecurity solutions in the market. These solutions provide near-real-time protection through the company’s AI-driven OT Security Service, powered by FortiGuard Labs, that enables OT-specific application- and protocol-based security, as well as virtual patching capabilities to shield unpatched OT assets from exploitation. As Westlands Advisory notes, the Fortinet OT Security Platform consists of over 20 products across three solution pillars: Secure Networking, Unified SASE, and Security Operations. The report goes on to say: “In addition, the technology integration offered through the OT Security Platform extends beyond Fortinet solutions to third-party technologies, delivering a comprehensive and centralized OT service.”

  • Cutting-edge innovation to solve urgent OT security use cases: The Fortinet OT Security Platform is also recognized by Westlands Advisory for its cutting-edge advancements and innovations that help customers solve many urgent and real OT use cases, such as asset discovery and management; network protection and segmentation; endpoint protection; secure remote access; and more. According to Westlands Advisory, “Fortinet offers the broadest range of industrial-grade security hardware solutions, including FortiGate Rugged firewalls and FortiSwitch industrial switches… Fortinet’s product roadmap is highly responsive to customer requirements and industry standards and has resulted in a number of industry awards, including the 2024 Red Dot Product Design Award [FortiGate Rugged 70G with Dual 5G Modems].” Additional recognitions include the Control Engineering 2024 Silver Product of the Year Award for FortiGate Rugged 70F, and the 2025 Gold Product of the Year Award for FortiGate Rugged 70G-5G-DUAL. The Westlands report also notes that the company’s OT security innovation extends to AI and ML, “where the focus has been on detections, understanding risk, and improving security operations.”

  • High-performance, energy-efficient, cost-effective solutions compared to other OT security solutions: Fortinet’s custom-built ASIC technology, embedded in FortiGate appliances, offers unmatched network security performance and reliability, which is critical in OT environments that run 24×7 or cannot suffer downtime. These custom ASICs, which include a networking processor and security processor, are integrated with the FortiOS operating system, allowing Fortinet to provide a comprehensive, high-performance networking and security solution that addresses the demands of modern network environments.

With the recognition of the Fortinet OT Security Platform, the Westlands report underscores the importance of IT/OT convergence and reaffirms that organizations don’t have to choose between performance and protection.