SUNNYVALE, CA, Mar 30, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX News Network) -- Fortinet(R) (NASDAQ: FTNT) -- a leading network security provider and worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions -- today announced it has been recognized by Everything Channel as one of North America's top information technology (IT) vendors for its FortiPartner(TM) program. Additionally, the FortiPartner program was recognized with a five-star rating representative of an exceptional program.

Fortinet's partner program was awarded a Five-Star recognition in the mid-sized category in Everything Channel's 16th annual 2010 Partner Program Guide (PPG), acknowledging its commitment and strength of its programs for reseller partners, which include IT integrators, technology solution providers and consultants.

In 2009, Fortinet enhanced its valued FortiPartner program by creating new and tailored tools for all partner levels and segments -- designed to improve partner sales potential and ease of doing business.

Research for the 2010 Everything Channel Partner Program Guide and the Five-Star Partner Program rating was conducted by Everything Channel's research department. Everything Channel analyzed 130 vendor programs rating vendors' responses to in-depth questions about their partner programs in the five elements of sales support, partner profitability, partner ecosystem development/management, partner communication/marketing, and demand generation. To ensure fair comparisons, companies were placed in one of four categories based on company size (Enterprise, Midsize, Small and Emerging). Questions from each section were scored individually and weighted appropriately. The 5-Star Partner Program rating recognizes the elite subset of Partner Program Guide vendors who give solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs. The 5-Star rating is bestowed on programs whose overall rating is among the elite based on company size.

"We are pleased to deliver to the Channel an exclusive list of the leading vendor channel programs with details about key technologies, program opportunities, and information on the hottest new program offerings," said Kelley Damore, VP, Editorial Director, Everything Channel. "The quality of a technology vendor's partner program determines how profitable its partners will be. For their commitment to their business partners and their efforts to build quality programs, we congratulate those recognized as this year's Five-Star Partner Program winners for helping to drive greater revenue in the channel."

"Fortinet continues to drive commitment to our channel through training, support, high margins, and deal registration," said Kendra Krause, vice president of channel sales for Fortinet. "Our channel partners are very important to us and this award is verification that we have put together the best tools to support our partner-base."

The PPG list and those companies recognized as five-star appeared in the March 29 issue of CRN magazine and online at www.Channelweb.com.

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com) Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) is a worldwide provider of network security appliances and the market leader in unified threat management (UTM). Our products and subscription services provide broad, integrated and high-performance protection against dynamic security threats while simplifying the IT security infrastructure. Our customers include enterprises, service providers and government entities worldwide, including the majority of the 2009 Fortune Global 100. Fortinet's flagship FortiGate product delivers ASIC-accelerated performance and integrates multiple layers of security designed to help protect against application and network threats. Fortinet's broad product line goes beyond UTM to help secure the extended enterprise -- from endpoints, to the perimeter and the core, including databases and applications. Fortinet is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with offices around the world.

About Everything Channel (www.everythingchannel.com, www.channelweb.com) Everything Channel, headquartered in Framingham, MA, is a technology marketing and sales solutions company. Through its "Complete Technology Channel Solution," Everything Channel offers the right business tools to accelerate technology sales. From branding and recruiting to marketing and sales, Everything Channel offers technology marketers the unmatched breadth and depth of global brands and market intelligence combined with unparalleled audience loyalty and credibility serving all technology sales channels through an extensive database. Everything Channel provides innovative field sales and marketing solutions to the sellers of technology to achieve measurable and significant results.

About United Business Media Limited UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetisation of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities -- from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists -- with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.ubm.com.

Copyright Copyright 2010 Fortinet, Inc. All rights reserved. The symbols (R) and (TM) denote respectively federally registered trademarks and unregistered trademarks of Fortinet, Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates. Fortinet's trademarks include, but are not limited to, the following: Fortinet, FortiGate, FortiGuard, FortiManager, FortiMail, FortiClient, FortiCare, FortiAnalyzer, FortiReporter, FortiOS, FortiASIC, FortiWiFi, FortiSwitch, FortiVoIP, FortiBIOS, FortiLog, FortiResponse, FortiCarrier, FortiScan, FortiDB and FortiWeb. Other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Fortinet has not independently verified statements or certifications herein attributed to third parties, such as Everything Channel, and Fortinet does not independently endorse such statements. This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements include, among others, statements regarding trends in our commitments to partners and any implications as to growth of partner business. Such trends are difficult to predict and are based on factors outside of our control and so future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based and results may differ. Important factors that could cause results to differ materially from the statements herein include, among others, the following: general economic risks; changes in strategy or circumstances generally; uncertainties around continued success in sales growth; execution risks around sales and new product introductions and innovations; and other risk factors set forth from time to time in our filings with the SEC, copies of which are available free of charge at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or upon request from Fortinet's investor relations department. All forward-looking statements reflect our opinions only as of the date of this release, and we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision of these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

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Media Contact:

Maeve Naughton
Fortinet, Inc.
(408) 486-7819
mnaughton@fortinet.com

Maureen Park
Everything Channel
(516) 562-5942
Maureen.park@ec.ubm.com

SOURCE: Fortinet

mailto:mnaughton@fortinet.com
mailto:Maureen.park@ec.ubm.com

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