SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 3, 2009 - Fortinet^® - a market-leading network security provider and worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions -has been recognized with SC Magazine Australia's 2009 Security Vendor of the Year award. The announcement was made at the recent AusCET 2009 conference held in Queensland.

The award was decided by an independent panel of expert judges, made up of IT security specialists. The key areas considered by the judges for this award included customer satisfaction, vendor's IT security strategy, leadership and innovation.

SC Magazine Australia editor in chief, Nate Cochrane, said the judging panel was impressed by the thoughtfulness and depth of Fortinet's submission and its commitment to the Australian market.

"The panel was impressed with Fortinet's demonstrated leadership in the Australian security market with their products," Cochrane said. "When I spoke to users they commented without prompting that no other vendor had competing solutions to meet their requirements, indicating that Fortinet had carved out a defensible niche and offered unique value."

"Fortinet is greatly honoured to receive the prestigious Security Vendor of the Year award from SC Magazine Australia," said Ken Xie, Fortinet founder, president and CEO. "The biggest trend in IT security today is consolidation - replacing multiple expensive security systems with a single integrated security appliance. Fortinet has led this consolidation effort by pioneering ASIC-accelerated, integrated security appliances, and delivering a broad range of integrated security and data protection technologies."

Charles Cote, regional director for Fortinet Australia and New Zealand commented, "Fortinet has grown quickly in Australia based on strong demand for our FortiGate® integrated security appliances. Our solutions have made it possible for many Australian businesses to improve their IT security measures, while reducing their running costs. In 2008, the popularity of our solutions helped us to achieve strong revenue growth across Australia and New Zealand."

For more information and a detailed list of categories and winners, please visit http://www.securecomputing.net.au/awards/Default.aspx