Customer Perspectives

Regional governments play a critical role in helping to improve the communities they serve and ensuring that local agencies have the resources they need to provide high-quality public services to citizens. High-performing and secure network technology is a critical enabler in helping these types of governments fulfill this mission, underpinning everything from timely and safe data sharing to seamless e-government services and optimized service delivery.

Charting a Course to SD-WAN

For one North American regional government, it was clearly time for a network refresh. Its existing network, based on expensive multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) technology, had proved unsatisfactory due to poor service and support from its legacy provider. Given that its contract was due to expire, the government saw the perfect opportunity to enhance its network services and security platform by striking out in a new direction. The organization, which planned to move to a managed service and adopt a modern software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) architecture, issued a request for proposals (RFP) to find a new network partner.

Modernizing the Network Across the Jurisdiction

Fortinet was engaged through a partner organization, acting as the managed service provider (MSP) for the government. The MSP developed a strategic response to the customer's RFP that achieved or exceeded the government's requirements. Fortinet collaborated closely with the MSP from the outset to ensure a rapid and seamless RFP response and effective communication with the customer throughout. As a result, Fortinet's proposed network solution was selected over the competition.

Today, the customer is implementing a Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution for fast, scalable, and flexible networking across its more than 1,300 locations. The solution leverages FortiGate Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) that protect the government's digital attack surface. The MSP manages the solution through FortiManager, which provides automation-driven centralized management for the FortiGate NGFWs from a single console.

Fortinet supported the deployment of the solution through Fortinet Professional Services, which provided accelerated implementation and configuration optimization at the outset of the deployment. For ongoing support, the government benefits from FortiCare Elite Support for enhanced service-level agreements, accelerated issue resolution, and a dedicated support team, as well as FortiCare Premium Support, which is targeted at devices that require 24x7x365 support.

Reducing Cost and Complexity

One of the main benefits of the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution is that the customer has significantly reduced its operational expenses and lowered the total cost of its network. With its legacy MPLS-based WAN, bandwidth came at a premium, whereas now the customer can use less expensive public internet connections. 

The Fortinet Secure SD-WAN has also reduced the complexity of the network and simplified network management processes. This is largely because the single console view and automation capabilities of FortiManager mean that the government's geographically dispersed network of more than 1,300 sites can be managed centrally leveraging zero-touch provisioning.

However, arguably the most important benefit to the government has been that the Fortinet Secure SD-WAN solution has greatly enhanced network performance. The government's network is now more reliable, while higher-quality connections to remote locations and edge users enable network users to benefit from seamless access to real-time applications.

Better Networking Means Better Government

Fortinet has helped deliver a stronger foundation for the regional government's digital footprint by reducing cost, simplifying management, and improving performance and security. Ultimately, that means the organization will be able to work more seamlessly with local government agencies, improve collaboration with central government, and provide a better service to the citizens it serves. 

Take a secure networking approach to improve user experience and simplify operations at the WAN edge with Fortinet Secure SD-WAN.