UAE’s leading telecommunications operator Etisalat has partnered with Fortinet, a leader in high-performance cyber security solutions, as its strategic security partner to broaden its digital security solutions portfolio addressing the increasing vulnerabilities of the IT infrastructure in the public and private sector.

The Middle East cybersecurity market is set to grow from $5.17 billion last year to $9.56 billion in 2019, at an annual average rate of 13.07 per cent, according to research firm Markets&Markets.

This is mainly due to the growing importance of investing in a hassle-free security system to meet the increasing volume and sophistication of security threats, it said.

To meet this growing need, Etisalat has partnered with Fortinet to address the market through offerings combining Enterprise Cloud and Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) based managed security services.

Salvador Anglada, chief business officer of Etisalat, said: “This partnership is significant as it adds value to our existing security portfolio, offering our customers network, cloud and data center security services. With the security ecosystem gaining relevance in an IT infrastructure, enterprises are looking to have flexibility and scalability to adapt to changes in the environment.

“These new services will provide enterprises a strong security partner ecosystem, incorporating end-to-end security throughout the network infrastructure.”
 
Under the Managed Security Service Partner (MSSP) platinum agreement, Fortinet technology will be offered with Etisalat’s business services to ensure that enterprise customers will have the option to secure their networks either using Etisalat’s cloud infrastructure or from the data centres, said a statement.

Etisalat’s Security Operations Center (SOC) will empower these services by remotely monitoring and managing on a 24X7 basis, it said.

Alain Penel, vice president Middle East at Fortinet, said: “Our new partnership with Etisalat will provide a platform for growth extending the benefits of our solutions to specific verticals meeting their requirements and giving them access to our specialised solutions and services.

“Etisalat customers will gain insights into the network helping them to operate their networks efficiently. We look forward to working with Etisalat and addressing the needs of its growing customer base in the country” - TradeArabia News Service