Windstream Enterprise Unleashes Secure Flex Premium Powered By Fortinet

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO/MSP SUMMIT — Windstream Enterprise has unveiled Secure Flex Premium, a suite of advanced technology solutions powered by Fortinet.

The company made the announcement Monday in conjunction with the Channel Partners Conference & Expo and MSP Summit in Las Vegas.

Secure Flex Premium provides a fully customizable cybersecurity infrastructure aimed at addressing the current and future network security needs of each unique customer.

Secure Flex Premium provides large enterprise clients with one solution, backed by a team of managed services experts, to manage, control and optimize their complete IT ecosystem.

Chris Alberding, Windstream Enterprise’s senior director of secure access service edge (SASE), security service edge (SSE) SD-WAN and security, said Secure Flex Premium addresses a market segment his company has missed.

“If you think about Windstream's product portfolio, especially in the security space, we've had very strong offerings in the small business and the midmarket space,” he said. “We address that through a couple different solutions, one being our Fortinet multitenant platform. What it didn't address was the very high end of enterprise customers that have extremely complex compliance requirements. They have broad requirements from more complex security that they want to personally manage as well.”

Windstream's Chris Alberding

In this environment, customers have a large security team, so they’re looking for someone like Windstream Enterprise to bring a cost-effective solution, and help with design and deployment, and provide two-tier support, Alberding said.

“Not only do we move up market and really address a space that we've had a gap in from a Fortinet perspective, but it also allows us to bring the entire Fortinet suite of solutions to a customer,” he said. “So it's filling a market gap, a technology gap, and really positions us well in the enterprise space.”

Secure Flex Premium removes the complexity from managing a sprawling IT ecosystem by providing a dedicated single-tenant architecture, powered by enterprise-grade cybersecurity and networking technologies from Fortinet, which can be implemented on top of one’s existing infrastructure.

Secure Flex Premium Leverages Fortinet's AI

Delivered by Windstream Enterprise’s IT managed services team, Secure Flex Premium leverages Fortinet’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cybersecurity platform, the Fortinet Security Fabric, and Fortinet’s secure networking solutions to enable clients to meet business-critical demands, accelerate digital transformation initiatives, and get complete visibility and control into their unique IT landscape.

“If I look across our partners out there, we've seen a shift in the partner world where you're seeing companies that are looking for higher-end enterprise solutions that are focusing in that space,” Alberding said. “I'd say 10 years ago in this space, it was primarily the SMB space, and now you're seeing partners are getting very specific, going after a specific enterprise space and they need a technology solution that can do that along with a partner that has expertise. And we've got eight-plus years of having our cybersecurity operations center (CSOC) in place today and having Fortinet deployment experience at a very detailed level. So we bring credibility and the support that some of those partners could use. So yes, it does open up a new world of opportunities in the partner space.”

Carl Orleman, Windstream Enterprise’s vice president of partner sales, expects partners to embrace the new solution at this week’s Channel Partners Conference & Expo.

Windstream's Carl Orleman

“It really lays the foundation for a much stronger, hardened, secure solution that really resonates, and especially when you think about the financials and retail companies in those large DCs that they're really trying to protect all that in,” he said. “So it's a strong play right now for us.”