Fortinet (FTNT) Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2026 summary

AI and cybersecurity market trends

• AI is driving a new wave of security needs, with rapid growth in enterprise and service provider segments, especially neocloud providers who make decisions faster than traditional carriers.

• Internal segmentation and machine-generated traffic are increasing, requiring enhanced visibility and control within enterprise data centers.

• Regulatory requirements, especially in Europe, are fueling demand for sovereign and on-premise AI security solutions.

• Hybrid models combining on-premise and cloud security are preferred by enterprises, opening new market opportunities.

• AI-driven vulnerabilities are emerging, prompting customers to seek multi-layered defenses and faster patching cycles.

Product and service innovation

• Over 20 AI-enabled products have been launched, with a focus on secure operations and infrastructure.

• New bundles, such as SD-WAN Service Bundle and SASE starter licenses, are designed to increase service attach rates and ease customer adoption.

• The new bundles can provide a 50-55% uplift for new customers, with additional upsell potential as customers expand usage.

• Enhanced AI visibility features in the latest OS allow customers to monitor traffic, model usage, and data context.

• Additional AI security and SASE services are planned for launch, leveraging the new OS platform.

Customer behavior and market dynamics

• Customers are buying higher-capacity devices, reflecting increased network traffic and security needs.

• Decision cycles for neocloud providers are much shorter, leading to rapid scaling of deployments.

• Enterprises are reconsidering cloud versus on-premise investments due to rising cloud costs and AI infrastructure needs.

• Cybersecurity discussions have moved to the executive level, driven by AI threats and geopolitical risks.

• Service revenue growth is expected to accelerate as more services are attached to both new and existing hardware.