This week’s announcement of a joint venture between Fortinet Inc. and Linksys Inc. underscored a key point surrounding the current state of cybersecurity. At-home work is here to stay, and organizations must adopt security infrastructure to deal with this new reality.

The two companies announced details of a joint package designed to enable security for work-from-home networks. Expected to be released in the next quarter, the new solution provides secure network connectivity for corporate work utilizing a router developed specifically for business applications.

“Work from home or the hybrid way to work will pretty much become permanent,” said Ken Xie (pictured), founder, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Fortinet. “Sometimes that data you access can be pretty important and confidential. We’re partnering with Linksys and others to support this hybrid working environment and make work from home more secure.”

Xie spoke with Lisa Martin, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during the Fortinet Security Summit. They discussed the necessity of a security-driven networking approach and Fortinet’s commitment to close the widening job skills gap in cybersecurity. (* Disclosure below.)

Integrating network with security

Part of what is driving Fortinet’s strategy in its latest partnership with Linksys is a vision of security-driven networking. This concept features an approach that tightly integrates network infrastructure with security architecture, allowing for a flexible IT environment without compromising critical protection.

“Today’s network can just give you the connectivity and speed,” Xie said. “With security-driven networking, you can make a networking decision based on the security function, based on different applications, content, users, devices or locations. We see that as a huge demand right now.”

What is also currently in huge demand are skilled cybersecurity experts. As of May, there were 465,000 open cybersecurity positions in the U.S. alone, and forecasts have pegged the total number of unfilled openings in 2021 to reach 3.5 million globally.

Fortinet recently announced an extension of its free training program and pledged to train 1 million people around the world over the next five years.

“We committed to train 1 million people, because there’s a huge shortage of cybersecurity experts,” Xie said. “We’re working with over 4,500 universities globally, and we want to offer free training to all of the people interested, especially veterans and high school students.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Fortinet Security Summit. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the Fortinet Security Summit. Neither Fortinet Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE