Fortinet Xperts 2025
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It was cold outside, but Fortinet brought the fire!
Fortinet Xperts was an experience with some cold shoulders and some freezing veins. Not due to the technology talk, social interactions or great workshops. Fortinet Xperts started at 38 degrees in Orlando, Florida, which was not a refreshing change. However, the Fortinet resources, technical staff and some nice Exclusive Networks vests helped the cause.
The opening general session was typical for a technical conference, with not too much hype. Given the temperature, which was around 45 degrees, it was pretty chill. The presenters discussed their topics without any jaw-dropping news or enhancements that we were not aware of.
FortiAIGate
We were hoping for some more details around the FortiAIGate solution, the soon-to-be-released version 8 and other topics. We did get some details around how FortiAIGate is to be deployed, use cases and other details, but nothing deep in the weeds. This is understandable as Fortinet is not known for roadmap discussions until the product is finalized and ready for prime time. This is not a bad thing, but sometimes frustrating, as we like to have the answers to our customers' questions up front and not weeks later after release. It is sounding like the general release of FortiAIGate is targeted for early 2026 or more towards Q2.
FortiOS
Details around what enhancements we can see with FortiOS version 8 did not disappoint but again not too deep in the weeds. Since this version is not scheduled for release until Q1 or Q2 of 2026, we still have time to gather more details to provide to our customers prior to their upgrade.
Fortinet did provide details from the released AI data center hardware that looks very promising. WWT will be publishing details about this new hardware and the use cases that best fit our customers in the next couple of weeks.
FortiSOC
There had been rumors a security platform was being developed but no actual news about it. Although Fortinet has some very formidable products in this space, including FortiSOAR, FortiSIEM and FortiEDR, just to name a few, there has not been a platform element that brings all of them together. That is about to change. FortiSOC will be released in the first half of 2026 and it will essentially bring FortiSOAR, FortiSIEM and FortiAnalyzer together in a product that unifies management of these products, as well as leveraging AI and machine learning to provide analytical insights into threats throughout the network. More details will be forthcoming at the beginning of 2026.
Fortinet workshops
The agendas for the workshops ranged from 101 level to more advanced 201 levels for some subjects, and there was a large section of topics to choose from. Dave Pisarek went for the Fortinet AppSec Cloud solution, SASE and OT offerings. Warren Jackson attended sessions focusing on SOC capabilities, integrating FortiNDR cloud and FortiSOAR, deep dives on FortiAnalyzer and FortiEDR, as well as deployment models around FortiDeceptor
Fortinet Ultimate Fabric Challenge (UFC)
The UFC competition this year was pretty fierce. Our team did well for their first time attending the event, but did not move on to the finals. It was a learning experience, and we will be bringing our A game to the battle at the next Xperts. Good luck to those teams moving on!
Conclusion
We were both impressed with the details provided, and the lab tasks at this Xperts were the best to date in the three Xperts we have attended. Feedback to the Fortinet technical team was very positive, and we are hoping that this trend continues to next year's event. The Meet the Experts sessions were fantastic, with a lot of interaction with the top CSEs in their solution areas, and the food was spot on. Chances to win prizes and have some refreshments added to the atmosphere. We hope that they can continue to enhance this conference when we attend in Nashville next year. Oh, and also hope for warmer temperatures.