Fortinet Expands FortiGate G Series To Secure AI From The Data Centre To Enterprise Edges

Fortinet has added two new appliances to its FortiGate G series firewall portfolio, targeting organisations that need to protect AI-driven workloads across data centres and distributed enterprise networks.

The FortiGate 3500G and FortiGate 400G are designed to address the growing challenge of maintaining security performance as encrypted traffic volumes and east-west data flows increase across hybrid infrastructure environments.

Both models are powered by Fortinet’s custom NP7 and SP5 processors and run on the FortiOS operating system, combining threat protection, integrated intelligence and hardware-enforced security in a single platform.

Addressing The Performance-Security Trade-Off

The new appliances are aimed at a problem Fortinet argues is increasingly common: organisations being forced to choose between security and network performance as traffic volumes grow.

Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Fortinet, explained the rationale behind the expansion.

“Organisations modernising their infrastructures for AI-driven workloads and increasingly distributed environments need security platforms that can deliver both performance and protection at scale,” Xie stated.

“The expansion of our FortiGate G series reflects our commitment to helping customers simplify their architectures, reduce complexity and protect their AI deployments from the data centre to the enterprise edge.”

Shadow AI Detection And FortiOS 8.0

Both models extend Fortinet’s AI-driven Security Fabric with native shadow AI detection capabilities. This gives organisations real-time visibility into unsanctioned AI application usage across their networks, while enforcing controls to protect sensitive data.

FortiGuard AI-Powered Security Services provide continuously updated intelligence and machine learning to identify and prioritise threats and automate protection.

FortiOS 8.0 expands visibility through MCP and agent-to-agent traffic inspection, offering deeper control over AI data flows and access patterns.

FortiGate 3500G: Data Centre Scale

The FortiGate 3500G is positioned for large-scale data centre environments where AI workloads, east-west traffic growth and zero-trust requirements are reshaping how infrastructure operates.

The appliance delivers 400Gb connectivity and uses ASIC acceleration to handle high-density environments without introducing bottlenecks or requiring architectural redesign.

Fortinet is also pitching the 3500G as a response to growing concerns about trust in security infrastructure itself. The platform includes hardware-level validation, secure firmware enforcement and system-level transparency features, designed to move organisations from assumed trust to verified trust.

The 3500G integrates security enforcement with SOC operations while maintaining familiar form factors from existing FortiGate deployments.

FortiGate 400G: Enterprise Edge

The FortiGate 400G targets the mid-range firewall segment, bringing G series performance and architecture to distributed enterprise environments.

Fortinet argues that many legacy firewalls struggle to maintain performance when advanced security services are enabled, creating trade-offs between protection and efficiency. The 400G is designed to eliminate that compromise through hardware-accelerated performance, integrated threat intelligence and support for high-density traffic and segmentation-driven security.

The appliance offers a simplified upgrade path from existing FortiGate deployments and consistent interfaces across the portfolio, allowing organisations to modernise their network edge without significant disruption.

Last Updated on May 7, 2026 by Nick Ross