Fortinet unveils Secure AI Data Centre to boost AI security & speed

Fortinet has unveiled its Secure AI Data Centre solution designed to provide an end-to-end security framework for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructures.

Solution overview

The Secure AI Data Centre solution aims to secure AI data centres by offering protection across the entire stack, including data centre infrastructure, applications, and large language models (LLMs). According to Fortinet, the framework introduces enhancements in AI threat defence while delivering ultra-low latency and average power savings of 69% compared to traditional methods.

Central to the announcement is the launch of the FortiGate 3800G data centre firewall. This firewall leverages Fortinet's NP7 and SP5 ASICs and features 400 GbE connectivity to meet the performance, efficiency, and scalability requirements of AI-driven workloads. The addition complements Fortinet's high-end firewall portfolio under the Secure AI Data Centre framework.

"AI data centres demand both massive performance and deep protection," said Nirav Shah, Senior Vice President of Products and Solutions at Fortinet. "Our Secure AI Data Centre solution unifies those capabilities, combining ASIC-powered firewalls like the FortiGate 3800G with advanced protection for data, applications and LLMs so organizations can scale AI without compromising security, performance, or efficiency."

Comprehensive security coverage

The Secure AI Data Centre solution is described as providing defence throughout the AI workflow. This includes network segmentation, encrypted traffic inspection, and protection at the application and model level. The solution embeds security into every layer of the AI stack to help prevent data leakage, block malicious inputs, and aid in compliance with evolving regulatory standards, all while maintaining necessary performance levels for GPU-intensive operations.

Fortinet states that the solution employs ASIC-accelerated segmentation to deliver high throughput and improve data centre sustainability. This is intended to help chief information officers manage spending on AI infrastructure without compromising operational performance.

Protection of large-scale GPU clusters and AI workloads is facilitated through the new firewall's performance and network connectivity capabilities. This aims to optimise both security and cost efficiency throughout Fortinet's data centre offerings.

The framework includes tools to mitigate threats specific to LLMs, such as prompt injection, data leakage, and misuse. It manages all model traffic and enforces guardrails across different deployment environments, including local, hybrid, and public-cloud models.

The Secure AI Data Centre solution also unifies firewalling, application security, and AI runtime protections under a single management interface in the Fortinet Security Fabric. This integration is intended to streamline compliance, reduce audit requirements, and lower operational complexity for enterprise users.

Additional application programming interface (API) and application security layers work to eliminate risks like code injection and tampering by inspecting and sanitising traffic before it reaches AI models.

Quantum-safe security is another aspect, with the solution embedding Post-Quantum Cryptography and Quantum Key Distribution features to address future risks posed by quantum computing technologies.

Market context and comparative data

Fortinet published Security Compute Ratings to compare the new FortiGate 3800G against market competitors such as Palo Alto, Check Point, and Cisco on metrics including firewall throughput, IPsec VPN performance, threat protection, and concurrent session handling.

According to Fortinet, the FortiGate 3800G achieves up to 800 Gbps firewall throughput and supports up to 200 million concurrent sessions, outpacing the aggregated averages of comparative products. Fortinet provided that all performance figures for rival products are drawn from publicly available sources and may differ depending on test methodologies. Power consumption figures were obtained from external data sheets and hardware system guides.

Customer perspective

Industry feedback highlighted the increasing challenges brought on by the expansion of AI in business operations. Huy Ly, Head of Global IT Security at Monolithic Power Systems, commented on the role of the Secure AI Data Centre solution in managing these complexities.

"AI is transforming every aspect of our business, from product design to supply chain management, while introducing new operational challenges," said Huy Ly. "The Fortinet Secure AI Data Centre solution gives us the visibility, performance, and protection we need to operate high-density GPU clusters with confidence. With this solution integrated into our AI environment, we can safeguard sensitive models and data while maintaining hyperscale throughput with greater efficiency and cost performance."

Security and compliance focus

Fortinet highlighted that the Secure AI Data Centre solution is intended to enforce zero-trust segmentation, support compliance with global standards, and maintain uptime for essential operations. The combination of hardware and software security controls aims to give enterprises options for protecting AI models, workloads, and supporting data without sacrificing performance or incurring excessive costs.

The launch forms part of Fortinet's broader portfolio in performance, consolidation, and AI-driven security practices.