LONDON, Dec. 3, 2009 - Fortinet® (NASDAQ: FTNT) - a leading network security provider and worldwide leader of unified threat management (UTM) solutions - today announced the results of an independent survey* into the information security priorities, pain points and technology preferences among UK and multinational financial services companies based in the UK. egarding priorities, respondents placed performance-related 'firewall upgrades' above all other priorities, even key strategic aims such as meeting FSA & PCI compliance, and implementing database encryption.

Throughput is No.1 Finance Sector IT Security Concern
The two equally highest information security priorities overall were 'firewall upgrade to achieve low latency' and 'firewall upgrade for higher throughput.' When asked what motivating factors would influence them to introduce a new information security vendor technology into their IT infrastructure, the sample's biggest response (69%) agreed that greater throughput capabilities would sway them.

Finance Sector Shares Wider Enterprise Appetite for Integrated Security
The research indicated that the broad enterprise trend toward more integrated security solutions is also prevalent among financial businesses. These are solutions that combine a number of critical security functions within a single form-factor and a single IP packet disassembly/assembly process. 65% of the sample agreed that 'integrated security for joined-up protection' was a key motivating factor for introducing a new information security vendor technology into their IT infrastructure, the second highest response overall. Among organisations with more than 5000 users, the figure was 78%.

The third highest (57%) motivating factor for new vendor introduction was for solutions that offered a reduction in management burden for information security.

Over One-Third of Vendor Community Offer No Capex/Opex espite
The research also reported an apparent inertia among many vendors to innovate their solutions and pricing models toward smaller Capex and Opex impact. When asked what motivating factors would persuade them to introduce a new information security vendor, 53% of the sample agreed that Capex reduction would influence them, with 52% in agreement for Opex reduction.

The survey also showed a lack of impetus from IT security vendors on how to go about implementing Capex/Opex reduction. Confronted by a 10-option multiple choice question enquiring what initiatives existing vendors had proposed to alleviate Capex/Opex, 38% answered 'none'. Of the remaining, the largest response (30%) related to bundling of software licensing.

"Financial services institutions rely on bandwidth-hungry and time-sensitive applications and cannot afford any network interruption," commented Paul Judd, UK & Ireland egional Director at Fortinet. "This research validates what we see in the field - a strong requirement for high levels of network uptime, speed and protection. Now, financial firms want to meet all these objectives while also achieving lower Capex/Opex and reduced management burden - all potentially using a more integrated security approach."

*Note on Survey Methodology
This survey was sponsored by Fortinet and conducted by independent market research company Vanson Bourne. A total of 100 financial services organisations of various sizes from small to large multinational companies (36% were large enterprises, 34% Medium and 30% SMEs), of which IT directors and security decision makers were questioned.