Fortinet, Inc.
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Founders
Ken Xie, Michael Xie · Founded 2000 · Sunnyvale, California
Quick Answer
Fortinet was founded by Ken Xie, Michael Xie in 2000 in Sunnyvale, California. The company is currently led by Ken Xie.
Fortinet began as Ken Xie and Michael Xie's second major act in network security after Ken Xie's earlier NetScreen experience. The founding insight was that enterprise networks were becoming too fast and too complex for security tools that relied only on general-purpose processing. Fortinet built FortiGate appliances and FortiOS around purpose-built security processing, then expanded that base into FortiGuard subscriptions, secure networking, SASE, cloud security, and security operations. The company is now less a single firewall vendor than a cybersecurity platform built on an installed base of high-performance network-security devices.
Ken Xie previously founded NetScreen Technologies and brought deep network-security and firewall-market experience to Fortinet.
Ken Xie founded Fortinet in 2000 and remains chairman and CEO. His strategic contribution is the combination of ASIC-backed performance, FortiOS, channel distribution, and an integrated Security Fabric model.
Michael Xie co-founded Fortinet and has been central to the company's product and technology direction.
Michael Xie helped build Fortinet's engineering culture and product architecture, supporting the company's expansion from FortiGate firewalls into a broader cybersecurity platform.
Ken Xie
Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer
Founded Fortinet and built the FortiGate, FortiOS, and Security Fabric strategy around integrated, high-performance cybersecurity.
Michael Xie
Founder, President, and Chief Technology Officer
Co-founded Fortinet and helped shape the company's product architecture and engineering strategy.
Fortinet's founder information is covered in the profile's founder section.
Fortinet began in the location listed in its company profile and expanded from there.
Fortinet was built around a specific customer or market problem in Cybersecurity and network security.