SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 20, 2007 - Fortinet® - a pioneer and leading provider of unified threat management (UTM) solutions -today was recognized by CMP Media's VABusiness magazine as one of North America's top information technology vendors in terms of the partnership programs it offers to solution providers that sell its products and services to end users. Fortinet's certification as a Five-Star Partner, for the second consecutive year, is an acknowledgement of the company's commitment to and strength of its FortiPartner Program for IT integrators, solution providers, resellers and consultants.

Fortinet was specifically recognized for its success in the Americas, and Karl Soderlund, vice president of sales, Americas, was also ranked No. 6 on the magazine's list of "25 Channel Executives You Need to Know."

Of the 250+ vendor-program entries reviewed for the past year, only 60 companies received the coveted Five-Star rating in the magazine's 13th annual Partner Programs Guide survey. The guide appears in the March 19, 2007, issue of VABusiness.

"We applaud vendors like Fortinet for demonstrating best practices and for the leadership roles they have achieved within the IT distribution channel," said Lawrence M. Walsh, editor of VABusiness.

"From our inception, Fortinet has been focused on its channel and fully committed to building and maintaining strong, strategic and mutually beneficial relationships with our channel partners," said Soderlund. "While many vendors speak boldly about their channel commitments, few actually demonstrate such through the development and execution of superior and rewarding programs. Being one of only 60 vendors across the entire IT industry to receive VABusiness' Five-Star Partner recognition is a testament to the strength of our FortiPartner Program and high degree of value we place on our channel partners.?

FortiPartner Program participants are selected for long-term growth and success. The three-tier program provides platinum, gold and silver partners with access to a deal registration element as well as easy access to a recurring revenue stream through automated delivery of Fortinet's FortiGuard™ family of real-time security subscription services. Additionally, solutions are selectively distributed and all purchases require a reseller agreement; product access is limited by partner tier and certification requirements.

FortiPartners not only benefit from the channel program enhancements, but from Fortinet's market-leading multi-threat security systems. FortiGate systems integrate eight essential security applications and services, enabling partners to flexibly recommend, sell and deploy tailored solutions for their customers. Unique to Fortinet is its FortiGuard subscription services - antivirus, intrusion prevention, Web filtering, and anti-spam - that provide automatic updates for customer systems to help protect them against security threats. This provides Fortinet partners the opportunity for a recurring revenue stream, and allows them to centrally manage all customer subscription renewals via one system and one vendor.

More information on the designation can be found in VABusiness' 12th annual Partner Programs Guide, which appears in the publication's March 19, 2007, issue and can be accessed online at:http://www.crn.com/it-channel/197801586;jsessionid=CHLMZL1AJTI2MQSNDLPSKHSCJUNN2JVN. For the "25 Channel Executives You Need to Know," visit the slideshow at:http://v3.crn.com/var/slideshows/2007/march_channelexecs/6.jhtml?articleid=197801348.