KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20): Fortinet is expanding its secure access service edge (SASE) points-of-presence (POPs) to new locations through a partnership with Google Cloud.

In a statement on Friday, the cybersecurity provider said the partnership allows it to leverage Google Cloud’s global network edge locations closest to their regions of presence, which deliver dedicated interconnect and 99.99% service availability, to accelerate the expansion of Fortinet’s Universal SASE solution.

The company said single-vendor SASE is a critical architecture organisations adopt to connect their hybrid workforces securely.

It said a robust network of SASE POPs that are scalable and globally available is crucial to delivering a superior user experience while enabling a strong security posture.

Fortinet founder, president, and chief technology officer Michael Xie said that by leveraging Google Cloud, Fortinet Universal SASE is even better positioned to serve a more extensive global footprint, ensuring that customers can seamlessly connect and secure their hybrid workforces to critical applications.

“This partnership will expand our global POP resources and accelerate customer adoption of Fortinet’s Universal SASE solution.

“And because our SD-WAN solution is natively integrated with our SASE offering, Fortinet’s global SD-WAN customers now have an even broader ability to easily adopt integrated cloud-delivered security to implement a comprehensive Universal SASE solution,” he said.

Meanwhile, Google Cloud vice president and GM of networking Muninder Sambi said organisations worldwide rely on the Google Cloud for critical networking and access.

“Our expanded partnership with Fortinet can enable high uptime for customers looking to support their hybrid workforces with Fortinet’s SASE solution, along with the advantages of using Google Cloud’s Cross-Cloud Network, which include lower costs and improved application experiences,” he said.