Fortinet’s Service Contract Activation and Grace Period Policy

Introduction

Fortinet’s Service Contract Activation and Grace Period Policy defines the automatic activation or forfeiture of FortiCare™ technical support contracts and specific FortiGuard™ subscriptions (referred to collectively as “Service Contracts” herein). Service Contracts are specific to a product and model (e.g. a FortiGate 200F) and can be purchased in several ways: as part of a hardware bundle; as part of a subscription bundle; or as a standalone contract. The product line, method of purchase, and region of purchase are all relevant as to what Grace Period and Activation treatment the contract receives.

It is the Customer’s responsibility to register and activate Service Contracts and bundles within their Fortinet support portal account irrespective of the periods described within. This policy therefore describes the treatment applied to applicable Service Contracts at the point the Grace Period expires without a prior registration event. For entitlements subject to an Auto-start, the Customer will still be required to perform a Registration to benefit from the balance of the service term. See details in the summary table and footnotes below for any exceptions. 

This policy applies to all order types, except Renewal, and should be read in conjunction with Fortinet’s Standard Terms and Conditions and other policies.

Policy

Service Contracts purchased as part of a Hardware Bundle

Hardware bundles are defined as a combination of a hardware device and one or both of FortiCare Technical Support and FortiGuard subscription licenses into a single orderable part number/SKU. Fortinet offers hardware bundles across many product lines. See Definitions section for more details. 

For Service Contracts purchased as part of a hardware bundle, the Customer will receive a grace period of 90 days unless the order is received in the United States of America or Canada where 60 days will be applicable. At the date the grace period expires, and in the absence of an applicable registration event, the Service Contract will Auto-start. As Service Contracts for hardware bundles are linked to the hardware serial number they are considered in use at the point the hardware is installed and connects remotely to Fortinet services and will result in Auto-start.

Service Contracts purchased Standalone or as part of a Subscription Bundle

Service Contracts for FortiGate Hardware Devices

If the Service contracts purchased are for FortiGate hardware appliance or chassis-based devices, the Customer will receive a grace period of 90 days unless the order is received in the United States of America or Canada where 60 days will be applicable. At the date the grace period expires, and in the absence of an applicable registration event, the Service Contract will Auto-start.   

Service Contracts for all other Products including FortiGate VM (One-year contracts)

The Customer will receive a grace period of 365 days for Service Contracts purchased in all regions. At the date the grace period expires, and in the absence of an applicable registration event, the service entitlement covered by the Service Contract will be forfeited without any right to obtain a refund. In no circumstances will the duration of the Service be extended. All sales are final.

Service Contracts for all other Products including FortiGate VM (Multiyear contracts)

The Customer will receive a grace period of 365 days for Service Contracts purchased in all regions. At the date the grace period expires, and in the absence of an applicable previous registration event, the service contract will Auto-start and back date to the start of the Grace Period – in other words the first year is forfeited and the remaining contract term auto-starts on the first day of the second year. Therefore the start date of service entitlement related to the Service Contract will be equivalent to the shipment date from Fortinet. The Customer will still be required to perform a Registration to benefit from the balance of the service term.

All other term-based Services and licenses

Other term-based licenses include, but are not limited to, Account-based Advanced Support and Professional Services, FortiConverter/FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer/FortiGate Cloud management and other SaaS offerings, virtual machines, and client software.

The Customer will receive a grace period of 365 days for Service Contracts purchased in all regions. At the date the grace period expires, and in the absence of an applicable registration event:

One-year contracts

The service entitlement covered by the Service Contract will be forfeited without any right to obtain a refund. In no circumstances will the duration of the Service be extended.  

Multi-year contracts

The service contract will Auto-start and back date to the start of the Grace Period – in other words the first year is forfeited and the remaining contract term auto-starts on the first day of the second year. Therefore the start date of service entitlement related to the Service Contract will be equivalent to the shipment date from Fortinet. The Customer will still be required to perform a Registration to benefit from the balance of the service term.

Summary Table

*Table does not reflect full Multiyear Contract treatment, see policy above.

** Other term-based licenses include: Account-based Advanced Support and Professional Services, FortiConverter, FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer/FortiGate Cloud management and other SaaS offerings, virtual machines, and client software. The new FortiGuard Inline Sandboxing service will also not be impacted by the new policy at this time.

Definitions

• FortiCare Technical Support – FortiCare Essential, FortiCare Premium, and FortiCare Elite service contracts. Does not include Premium RMA or Secure RMA contracts – PRMA/SRMA contracts fall under the category “All Other Term-based Services and Licenses” for this policy.
• Grace Period – a permitted period of time, in calendar days, provided to the customer, allowing for shipment or delivery delays, before the expected activation of a Service Contract or bundle service entitlement. Starts with shipment from Fortinet of physical hardware or Service Contract number generation.
• Hardware Bundle – Hardware bundles are defined as a combination of a hardware device and one or both of FortiCare Technical Support and FortiGuard subscription licenses into a single orderable part number/SKU. Product lines that currently have hardware bundles include FortiGate, FortiWiFi, FortiMail, FortiWeb, FortiAnalyzer, FortiManager, FortiADC, FortiNDR, FortiTester, and FortiVoice. 
• FortiGate hardware devices include FortiGate appliance and chassis-based models.
• Registration – the act of registering a hardware serial number of Service Contract number in Fortinet’s Asset Manager portal within a Customer account for the purpose of benefiting from the service
• Renewal – successful processing and order for the extension of a service entitlement through Fortinet’s designated renewal tool and process
• Service Contracts – FortiCare Technical Support contracts and/or FortiGuard service contracts
• Standalone – “is a Service Contract that is sold as a SKU separate from hardware, intended to provide service entitlements when registered either to a hardware unit of customer account as the case may be.”
• Subscription Bundle - “a single SKU comprised of multiple single FortiGuard contract sometimes bundled with FortiCare Technical Support”.