CISO Tribune

Vendor comparison · 2 companies

Cisco vs Fortinet

Cisco sells security products that protect users, devices, apps, and data. Fortinet sells cybersecurity and networking technology to enterprises, service providers, and government organizations. CISO Tribune files both under Firewalls and NGFW, SASE and SSE and SIEM. This page sets the two records side by side: what each sells, where it is based, who owns and funds it, the customers it names and its recent news, each fact numbered to its source.

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  • Cisco
  • Fortinet
Cisco vs Fortinet: Products, Customers and Funding Compared
CiscoCisco sells security products that protect users, devices, apps, and data.cisco.comFortinetFortinet sells cybersecurity and networking technology to enterprises, service providers, and government organizations.fortinet.com
What it sells
  • Cisco HypershieldA security architecture for data centers that segments workloads and closes exploit gaps at scale.
  • Cisco Secure AccessA secure access service edge (SASE) product that unifies networking and security policy for a distributed workforce.
  • Cisco Duo[1]An identity security product that gives visibility into an organization's identity ecosystem and enforces access policy.
  • Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)A network access control product that uses data from across Cisco's stack to enforce policy, manage endpoints and grant trusted access.
  • Splunk Enterprise Security[1]A security information and event management product that detects and responds to threats using collected logs and events.
  • Cisco Talos[1]A threat intelligence and research organization that supplies threat data used across Cisco's security products.
  • FortiWeb[18]FortiWeb protects web applications and APIs.
  • FortiAP[17]FortiAP provides secure wireless LAN access points.
  • FortiManager[12][19]FortiManager is a NOC-SOC operations tool.
  • FortiSIEM[12][16]FortiSIEM is Fortinet’s SIEM solution.
  • FortiSandbox[16]FortiSandbox provides AI-powered protection against zero-day threats.
  • Unified SASE[1][11]Fortinet Unified SASE combines networking with AI-aware controls.
  • FortiAIGate[11]FortiAIGate secures AI apps and agents.
Categories
Headquarters
San Jose, United States[3][13]Sunnyvale, United States
Founded
1984[4]2000[4]
Ownership and funding
Public (NASDAQ: CSCO)[1][2][10][12][13]Public (NASDAQ: FTNT)[2][9][12][13][17][20][22]
Named customers
  • Marriott[5]
  • United States Golf Association[6]
  • Rosen Hotels & Resorts[7]
  • Elon University[8]
  • IHG Hotels & Resorts[5]
  • Alaska Airlines[6]
  • IndiGo[7]
  • University of Birmingham[8]
Recent news
  • August 12, 2026Cisco reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $17.3 billion for the period ended July 25, 2026.[2]
  • May 13, 2026Cisco reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 revenue of $15.8 billion for the period ended April 25, 2026.[9]
  • May 4, 2026Cisco announced its intent to acquire Astrix Security, a non-human identity security company, and completed the acquisition on June 29, 2026.[10]
  • April 9, 2026Cisco announced its intent to acquire Galileo Technologies, Inc.[11]
  • November 25, 2025Cisco completed its acquisition of EzDubs, a privately held AI software company based in San Francisco.[13]
  • August 17, 2026Fortinet announced it has acquired Virtue AI, a company focused on AI runtime protection, automated AI validation, and security for autonomous AI systems.[20]
  • August 17, 2026Fortinet acquired Virtue AI, a company offering AI runtime protection and automated validation for autonomous AI systems.[9]
  • July 29, 2026Fortinet reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.05 billion, up 26% year over year.[2]
  • June 24, 2026Fortinet appointed Derek Kan to its board of directors.[21]
  • May 6, 2026Fortinet reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $1.85 billion, up 20% year over year.[10]
G2 and Gartner Peer Insights
  • G2: listed, seen November 5, 2026[12]
  • Gartner Peer Insights: Not stated on its pages
  • G2: Not stated on its pages
  • Gartner Peer Insights: listed, seen November 3, 2026[22]
Who it fits
From its own pages, Cisco sells mainly to enterprises that need to secure hybrid environments spanning data center, cloud, campus, and IoT. Cisco addresses organizations with a global workforce that need secure access for humans, things, and agents under one consistent policy model. Cisco addresses enterprises that want to govern an agentic AI workforce. Security teams are addressed with unified intelligence and operations for visibility across users, systems, and AI agents.From its own pages, Fortinet sells mainly to enterprises, service providers, and government organizations. Its firewall pages describe deployments across data centers, branch offices, and multi-cloud environments. Wireless products are described for campuses, remote workers, and large public venues such as stadiums and arenas.
Last verified
October 10, 2026November 9, 2026

Where they overlap

  • Firewalls and NGFW is the primary category of both Cisco and Fortinet; both are also filed under SASE and SSE and SIEM.
  • Both are headquartered in the United States.
  • Both are public companies.

Where they differ, field by field

  • Cisco is also filed under Network access control. Fortinet is also filed under EDR and XDR.
  • Cisco lists Cisco Hypershield, Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Duo, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Splunk Enterprise Security and 1 more. Fortinet lists FortiWeb, FortiAP, FortiManager, FortiSIEM, FortiSandbox and 2 more.
  • Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, United States. Fortinet is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States.
  • Cisco was founded in 1984. Fortinet was founded in 2000.
  • Cisco is a public company listed on NASDAQ as CSCO. Fortinet is a public company listed on NASDAQ as FTNT.
  • Cisco publicly names Marriott, United States Golf Association, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Elon University. Fortinet publicly names IHG Hotels & Resorts, Alaska Airlines, IndiGo and University of Birmingham.

How they differ

CISO Tribune files both Cisco and Fortinet under Firewalls and NGFW as the primary category, and both also appear under SASE and SSE and under SIEM. Cisco is also filed under Network access control, while Fortinet is also filed under EDR and XDR. Cisco sells Cisco Secure Access as a SASE product, Cisco Identity Services Engine for network access control, Cisco Duo for identity security, and Splunk Enterprise Security as a SIEM. Fortinet sells FortiSIEM as its SIEM, Unified SASE, FortiSandbox, FortiWeb for web applications and APIs, and FortiAIGate for AI apps and agents. Fortinet's firewall line is built around FortiGate, and it also sells FortiAP wireless access points.

Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, was founded in 1984, and is listed on NASDAQ as CSCO. Fortinet is headquartered in Sunnyvale, was founded in 2000, and is listed on NASDAQ as FTNT. Cisco names Marriott, United States Golf Association, Rosen Hotels & Resorts, and Elon University as customers. Fortinet names IHG Hotels & Resorts, Alaska Airlines, IndiGo, and University of Birmingham.

On August 12, 2026, Cisco reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $17.3 billion. Cisco announced its intent to acquire Astrix Security, a non-human identity security company, on May 4, 2026, and completed the acquisition on June 29, 2026. On August 17, 2026, Fortinet announced that it had acquired Virtue AI, a company focused on AI runtime protection. On July 29, 2026, Fortinet reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $2.05 billion, up 26% year over year.

What it sells: Fortinet

What FortiWeb does[18]
FortiWeb protects business-critical web applications and APIs from emerging web-based threats. Its features include anomaly detection, API discovery and protection, bot mitigation, and client-side security. It comes in hardware, virtual machine, and SaaS form factors and is available in public cloud marketplaces.
What FortiAP does[17]
FortiAP integrates with the Fortinet SASE offering to support organizations securing microbranches. FortiAPs are available in models from 2x2 to 4x4, with internal or external antenna. Control can be done with FortiGate, FortiGate VM, FortiSASE, or FortiEdge Cloud.
What FortiManager does[12][19]
FortiManager is the NOC-SOC operations tool that was built with security perspective. It provides a single-pane-of-glass across the entire Fortinet Security Fabric.

Questions about Cisco and Fortinet

What do Cisco and Fortinet sell?
Cisco sells Cisco Hypershield, Cisco Secure Access, Cisco Duo, Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), Splunk Enterprise Security and 1 more. Fortinet sells FortiWeb, FortiAP, FortiManager, FortiSIEM, FortiSandbox and 2 more.
Are Cisco and Fortinet in the same category?
Yes. Firewalls and NGFW is the primary category of both on CISO Tribune.
Where are Cisco and Fortinet headquartered?
Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, United States. Fortinet is headquartered in Sunnyvale, United States.
When were Cisco and Fortinet founded?
Cisco was founded in 1984. Fortinet was founded in 2000.
Who owns Cisco and Fortinet?
Cisco is a public company listed on NASDAQ as CSCO. Fortinet is a public company listed on NASDAQ as FTNT.
Which customers do Cisco and Fortinet name?
Cisco publicly names Marriott, United States Golf Association, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Elon University. Fortinet publicly names IHG Hotels & Resorts, Alaska Airlines, IndiGo and University of Birmingham.
Who are Cisco and Fortinet sold to?
From its own pages, Cisco sells mainly to enterprises that need to secure hybrid environments spanning data center, cloud, campus, and IoT. From its own pages, Fortinet sells mainly to enterprises, service providers, and government organizations.
What have Cisco and Fortinet announced recently?
August 12, 2026: Cisco reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 revenue of $17.3 billion for the period ended July 25, 2026. August 17, 2026: Fortinet announced it has acquired Virtue AI, a company focused on AI runtime protection, automated AI validation, and security for autonomous AI systems.

About Cisco

Cisco sells security products that protect users, devices, apps, and data. Cisco describes the offering as an open, network-native platform built to handle today's threats and enable the agentic enterprise at scale.

Cisco says its security applies policy, inspection, and enforcement at every connection. Cisco also describes unified data for earlier detection and faster response, powered by AI-driven context.

For cloud protection, Cisco describes securing modern cloud and AI apps at runtime with segmentation that keeps up with change, vulnerability shielding to close the patching gap, and protection for AI workloads. Cisco Encrypted Visibility Engine (EVE) is used to find malicious flows in encrypted traffic and to decrypt without sacrificing performance. Cisco says it stops zero days using Snort ML and Talos Threat Intelligence. Cisco offers distributed, optimized enforcement with unified management across a hybrid enterprise, and the same enforcement is described for data center, cloud, campus, and IoT environments.

Cisco describes a security architecture designed to defend modern, AI-scale data centers. Cisco says the architecture closes exploit gaps, segments everywhere, and self-qualifies updates and changes.

For workforce protection, Cisco describes secure access for humans, things, and agents with one consistent policy model. Cisco offers a cloud-native security service edge (SSE) that includes digital experience monitoring. Cisco offers a single-vendor SASE that unifies networking and security for a global workforce. Cisco offers identity security for the workforce that helps see across the entire identity ecosystem. Cisco offers multicloud NAC with zero trust, which uses intel from across the stack to enforce policy, manage endpoints, and deliver trusted access.

For threat intelligence and response, Cisco describes detecting, investigating, and responding faster with unified intelligence and operations. Cisco says this gives a team continuous visibility across users, systems, and AI agents in a single platform. Cisco describes unifying the data fabric, analytics, tooling and AI to automate the mundane, clarify the complex, and proactively mitigate risk.

Cisco also addresses agentic AI. Cisco describes safeguarding the agentic workforce against malicious attacks and data leakage. Cisco says it integrates identity, access, and behavioral controls to govern an agentic AI workforce and reduce risk. At RSAC 2026, Jeetu Patel, Cisco's President and Chief Product Officer, challenged the industry to fundamentally reimagine security.

Cisco Services provide expert guidance to plan, design, implement, operate, and optimize an IT environment. Cisco says support for Cisco Security products is available through the Cisco support hub, which provides product-specific resources, documentation, downloads, and expert assistance.

Cisco on the record

Sources

Cisco full record

  1. [1]Security Products and Solutions for Cloud and Workforce Protection - CiscoCisco · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Cisco reports fourth quarter earningsCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published August 12, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]IndexCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Cisco systems reaches agreement with state city on major land purchaseCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published April 17, 1996 · Tier A
  5. [5]MarriottCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]cisco.comCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Rosen hotels and resortsCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]Elon universityCisco · cisco.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Cisco reports third quarter earningsCisco · newsroom.cisco.com · published May 13, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Cisco announces intent to acquire astrix securityCisco · blogs.cisco.com · published May 4, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Making AI Trustworthy and Observable in Real-Time: Cisco Announces Intent to Acquire GalileoCisco Blogs · published April 9, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]Cisco Security Services Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2G2 · undated page, accessed October 23, 2026 · Tier C
  13. [13]Cisco completes EzDubs acquisition - CiscoCisco · published November 25, 2025 · Tier A

Fortinet full record

  1. [1]fortinet.comFortinet · fortinet.com · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  2. [2]Fortinet reports strong second quarter 2026 financial resultsFortinet · fortinet.com · published July 29, 2026 · Tier A
  3. [3]Ftnt 20241231Fortinet, Inc. via SEC EDGAR · sec.gov · undated page, accessed September 27, 2026 · Tier A
  4. [4]Press kitFortinet · fortinet.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  5. [5]IHG Hotels & Resorts | Fortinet Case StudyFortinet · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  6. [6]Alaska airlinesFortinet · fortinet.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  7. [7]Indigo airlinesFortinet · fortinet.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  8. [8]University of birminghamFortinet · fortinet.com · undated page, accessed October 10, 2026 · Tier A
  9. [9]Fortinet advances continuous ai protection with the acquisition of virtue aiFortinet · fortinet.com · published August 17, 2026 · Tier A
  10. [10]Fortinet reports first quarter 2026 financial resultsFortinet · fortinet.com · published May 6, 2026 · Tier A
  11. [11]Global Leader of Cybersecurity Solutions and Services | FortinetFortinet · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier A
  12. [12]FortiDLP Agent Hardware | Fortinet Document LibraryFortinet · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier A
  13. [13]Fortinet Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed October 25, 2026 · Tier C
  14. [14]FortiGate / FortiOS | Fortinet Document LibraryFortinet Document Library · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  15. [15]Hybrid Mesh FirewallFortinet · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  16. [16]Products | Fortinet Products | Fortinet Product InformationFortinet · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  17. [17]Secure Wireless Access Points | FortinetFortinet · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  18. [18]Web Application Firewall (WAF) & API Protection | FortinetFortinet · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  19. [19]FortiManager | Fortinet Document LibraryFortinet Document Library · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier A
  20. [20]Fortinet Advances Continuous AI Protection with the Acquisition of Virtue AIFortinet, Inc. · published August 17, 2026 · Tier A
  21. [21]Fortinet Appoints Public Sector Leader and Tech Executive Derek Kan to Its Board of DirectorsFortinet · published June 24, 2026 · Tier A
  22. [22]Fortinet Reviews, Ratings & Features 2026 | Gartner Peer InsightsGartner Peer Insights · undated page, accessed November 3, 2026 · Tier C

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