Fortinet, Inc.

Early history

In 2000, Ken Xie and his brother Michael Xie co-founded Appligation, Inc., which they renamed ApSecure and ultimately Fortinet (from the phrase "Fortified Networks"). Fortinet introduced its first product, FortiGate, in 2002, followed by anti-spam and anti-virus software.

The company raised $13 million in private funding from 2000 to early 2003. Fortinet's first channel program was established in October 2003. The company began distributing its products in Canada in December 2003 and in the UK in February 2004. By 2004, Fortinet had offices in Asia, Europe, and North America.

Growth and expansion

Fortinet became profitable in the third quarter of 2008. According to market research firm IDC, by November 2009, Fortinet held over 15 percent of the unified threat management market. Also in 2009, CRN Magazine ' s survey-based annual report card placed Fortinet first in network security hardware, up from seventh in 2007.

In November 2009, Fortinet had an initial public offering, opening on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol FTNT. By the end of the first day of trading, the company had raised $156 million. The company later became listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market, and became a component of the NASDAQ-100 index. [ citation needed ]

By 2010, Fortinet had $324 million in annual revenues and held the largest share of the unified threat management market according to IDC.

Recent history

In July 2014, Fortinet announced a technical certification program called the Network Security Expert (NSE) program. In March 2016, Fortinet launched a Network Security Academy to help fill open cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. Fortinet donated equipment and provided information to universities to help train students for jobs in the field. Also in 2016, Fortinet launched a program called FortiVet to recruit military veterans for cybersecurity jobs.

In January 2017, it was announced that Philip Quade, a former member of the NSA, would become the company's chief information security officer.

In 2019, Fortinet's FortiGate SD-WAN and Next Generation Firewall received a "Recommended" rating from NSS Labs.

In September 2021, Fortinet pledged to train one million people in support of President Joe Biden 's call to action to address the talent shortage in American cybersecurity.

In March 2022, Fortinet announced the termination of operations in Russia. The company has stopped all sales, support, and professional services within Russia.

The same year, NetworkWorld reported that Fortinet had introduced AI and ML -based security services utilizing telemetry from its network.

In June 2025, Fortinet was added to Investor's Business Daily's Big Cap 20 list of top-rated large-cap growth stocks.