Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT) today announced it has invested in Centrify, a manufacturer of unified identity management technology across data center, cloud and mobile environments. The companies have also initiated an alliance whereby Fortinet and Centrify can leverage synergies between their technologies.
Other strategic investors include Samsung Ventures and NTT Docomo Capital, and other Centrify strategic alliance partners include the KNOX Business Group of Samsung Electronics, whereby Centrify identity management software is to be integrated into Samsung mobile devices.
“Given the dynamic IT threat landscape, Fortinet continues to focus on securing enterprise customers in multiple creative ways, and, consistent with that focus, we are proud to partner with Centrify,” said Michael Xie, founder, president and CTO of Fortinet. “Centrify has an innovative approach to enterprise identity management, and, as enterprise customers continue to migrate to cloud-based IT services and applications, the combination of our complementary platforms provides enterprise customers with a broad and powerful solution that is unique in the market today.”
Centrify offers secure single sign-on for cloud and mobile applications, as well as management of a broad variety of mobile devices, enabling enterprises to uniformly and efficiently manage identity and access policies for cloud and mobile resources. Centrify is currently used by more than 5,000 customers worldwide, including approximately half of the Fortune 50 and more than 60 Federal government agencies.
“Centrify and Fortinet are joining forces to bring together the absolute best in unified identity services and enterprise security,” said Tom Kemp, Centrify CEO and founder. “We look forward to working closely with the Fortinet team to drive innovation and address new and always-evolving challenges in today’s complex hybrid IT environment. By combining Centrify’s ability to secure and manage endpoints with Fortinet’s expertise in IT security, we’re ensuring customers are covered by the very best technology solutions available today, and well prepared for the future.”
About Fortinet Products
Fortinet network security appliances and subscription services provide broad, integrated and high-performance protection against dynamic security threats while simplifying the IT security infrastructure. The company’s customers include enterprises, service providers and government entities worldwide. Fortinet's flagship FortiGate platform delivers ASIC-accelerated performance and integrates multiple layers of security designed to help protect against application and network threats.
Fortinet made a minority investment in Centrify’s Series E Preferred Stock round of financing. The specific details of the investment and alliance were not disclosed. Last year Fortinet invested in and partnered with HyTrust, Inc., a cloud security automation company with virtual appliances for cloud control, visibility, data security, management and compliance within virtualization and cloud environments.
