Calgary Zoo Goes Wireless with Fortinet's Security Solutions

SUNNYVALE, Calif., October 4, 2004 - Fortinet, Inc., the confirmed market leader in Unified Threat Management and only provider of ASIC-accelerated network-based antivirus firewall systems for real-time network protection, today announced that the Calgary Zoo, home to more than 900 animals and host to over one million visitors a year, has deployed an enterprise-wide network security infrastructure based on Fortinet's FortiGate™ Antivirus Firewall platforms to improve network performance and enable mobile networking while protecting against viruses, worms, Trojans, intrusions and other attacks.

The Calgary Zoo assessed several vendors after they became frustrated from repeated attacks by viruses, worms, grayware and other threats that were not being prevented by their existing firewall and desktop antivirus software. The Calgary Zoo was also determined to eliminate the performance and functional bottlenecks in their security infrastructure that led to frequent mail outages and prevented them from implementing applications critical to their growth, such as secure wireless access for staff and guests. With all these factors to consider, the Calgary Zoo staff sought an integrated solution that could provide firewall and antivirus capabilities at both the perimeter and interior of their network, with high performance, easy management, and an acceptable cost.

Fortinet's FortiGate systems were chosen by the Calgary Zoo for the superior security, wireless capability, automatic updates of virus, worm and intrusion signatures and high performance. The systems cost-effectively deliver Complete Content Protection™ through the integration of a broad range of security functions in real time -- including antivirus, firewall, virtual private networking (VPN), intrusion detection and prevention (IDP), content filtering, traffic shaping, and anti-spam -- and are easily managed from a central point. Since implementing Fortinet's FortiGate platform, the Calgary Zoo has been protected from daily intrusion attempts, seen a marked increase in network performance and now offers convenient wireless access to its own staff, from administrators to veterinarians as well as their room rental customers.

Up and running in less than a day, the Calgary Zoo quickly and seamlessly implemented six FortiWiFi-60 Antivirus Firewalls for secure mobile access throughout the grounds, and one FortiGate-400 deployed at the network perimeter to screen all inbound and outbound traffic. In addition to stateful firewall functions, the FortiGate-400 provides crucial antivirus and IDP capabilities at the gateway. Remote access through the system's IPSec VPN features will be activated soon, as the Calgary Zoo looks to connect off-site employees and take online donations.

"Fortinet was unique in its ability to economically provide us with a solution that enabled secure wireless access and that also provided complete protection against content-based threats," said Bob Gebert, manager of information systems for the Calgary Zoo. "We've seen an overall increase in the performance of our email applications, because attacks no longer reach our mail server. The ease of use of the Fortinet products and the outstanding logging and tracking capabilities were also key benefits that made the choice easier."

"Secure wireless access is attractive for businesses and organizations looking for increased flexibility and competitive advantage," said Richard Hanke, vice president of product management for Fortinet. "For the Calgary Zoo, their investment in Fortinet's wired and wireless antivirus firewall solutions provide them with superior protection, better network performance, and the headroom to grow to meet new applications."

About the Calgary Zoo
The Calgary Zoo is home to more than 900 animals and 276 species from caribou to zebras and attracts over one million visitors a year. Many of the Zoo's animals are endangered and are part of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (A.Z.A) Species Survival Plan--a co-operative population management program focused on maintaining healthy and genetically diverse captive populations. In addition to the zoo's conservation focus, research and education are also key elements that make the zoo such a popular and important place to visit.

About Fortinet (www.fortinet.com)
Fortinet is the confirmed leader of the Unified Threat Management market. The company's award-winning FortiGate™ series of ASIC-accelerated antivirus firewalls, winner of the 2004 Security Product of the Year Award from Network Computing Magazine and the 2003 Networking Industry Awards Firewall Product of the Year, are the new generation of real-time network protection systems. They detect and eliminate the most damaging, content-based threats from e-mail and Web traffic such as viruses, worms, intrusions, inappropriate Web content and more in real time – without degrading network performance. FortiGate systems are the only security products that are quadruple-certified by the ICSA (antivirus, firewall, IPSec, NIDS), and deliver a full range of network-level and application-level services in integrated, easily managed platforms. Named to the Red Herring Top 100 Private Companies, Fortinet is privately held and based in Sunnyvale, California.