Notes from a boat. The Fortinet Global Partner Conference 2015

As we sail back into Port Everglades, we look back at some of the key take aways from the Fortinet Global Partner Conference 2015.

Mark Oakton

“We’ve noticed a dramatic transformation in Fortinet over the last year witnessing a number of positive changes. The new products and integration capabilities demonstrate an unrivalled completeness of vision and strategy.

It’s been a great trip marred slightly by the hugely disappointing Wi-Fi on board supplied by another vendor. I fully expect Royal Caribbean will soon be inundated with offers to fix this, and if there is another cruise for the 2016 GPC, it wouldn’t surprise me if FortiWiFi and FortiAP’s were implemented throughout the ship with FortiPresence being implemented to make sure those attending don’t spend all their time in the bar, pool or surging on the “Flow Rider” when they should be elsewhere.

Final pearls of wisdom, don’t get an “Ultimate Package” added to your Sea Pass. It sounds like a great idea when you first get it, but even after getting back on solid land – you’re likely to feel as if you’re still on the boat!”

Fran Ordillano

“It was my first time getting to know a number of the new senior management at Fortinet, but it was immediately apparent they shared a common direction and thought process. Inspirational talks by Drew Del Matto, Luanne Tierney and John Maddison outlined a clear and distinct corporate and product development path. These were followed by insightful breakout sessions underlining the Fortinet expertise within industry verticals.

Let me also say that it’s no understatement when people say that Ken Xie is ‘awesome’. As the inventor of the firewall, he’s always held somewhat of a cult-idol status for me. But standing next to him, it’s not just his reputation that towers over you. Had basketball been his forte, next generation firewalls would undoubtedly have taken much longer to come to light.

We met some tremendous people on board from all over the world. It was a pleasure to connect with them and I’d like to also say congratulations to Graham Jones and his team at Exclusive Networks UK for their well-deserved Best Distributor award.

My final take away from the GPC, is that the Fortinet family like to party. No one seeing footage of the sessions by the “Solarium” and in the “Catacombs” (and I know for a fact that there are several videos out there) would ever have guessed these people were a bunch of the smartest information security brains on the planet.

Thanks again to David Park, Greg Gyves and the UK Fortinet team for inviting us to participate. What a great way to start 2015, and already it looks as if the year ahead will be plain sailing to even more success.”