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Rockwell Automation has significantly expanded its managed security services portfolio with the introduction of SecureOT support for Fortinet firewalls, addressing a critical gap in operational technology cybersecurity for manufacturers running mixed-vendor environments. The announcement, made in early October 2026, represents a strategic shift from device-specific support to comprehensive OT security management regardless of the underlying infrastructure, reflecting the increasingly heterogeneous nature of industrial control system networks.

The expansion comes as manufacturing organizations face mounting pressure to secure their OT environments against sophisticated cyber threats while managing legacy equipment and multi-vendor architectures. According to Rockwell's 2026 State of Smart Manufacturing report, 67 percent of industrial organizations now operate firewalls from at least two different vendors within their OT networks, creating complexity that traditional single-vendor support models cannot adequately address. By extending SecureOT services to Fortinet platforms, Rockwell provides a unified security management approach that transcends hardware boundaries.

Fortinet's presence in industrial environments has grown substantially over the past five years, driven by the company's competitive pricing and the FortiGate platform's ability to handle both IT and OT traffic through a single device. Many manufacturers adopted Fortinet firewalls during digital transformation initiatives when IT departments sought to extend enterprise security policies to operational networks. However, these organizations often lacked the specialized OT expertise required to configure and maintain Fortinet devices in accordance with industrial protocols like EtherNet/IP, PROFINET, and Modbus TCP.

Rockwell's SecureOT service addresses this skills gap by providing 24/7 monitoring, threat detection, and incident response specifically tailored for industrial environments. The service includes continuous vulnerability assessment, patch management coordinated with production schedules, and compliance reporting for standards such as IEC 62443 and NIST 800-82. For organizations running Fortinet firewalls alongside Rockwell control systems, the expanded service offering eliminates the need to coordinate between multiple security vendors during incidents, reducing mean time to resolution for OT security events.

The timing of this expansion reflects broader trends in industrial cybersecurity procurement. Manufacturers are increasingly moving from capital expenditure models, where they purchase security hardware and manage it internally, to operational expenditure models based on managed services. This shift is driven by the shortage of qualified OT security professionals, with industry estimates suggesting a global deficit of over 50,000 specialists. Managed services allow organizations to access enterprise-grade security capabilities without building large internal teams, particularly valuable for mid-sized manufacturers with limited security budgets.

Rockwell's approach differs from traditional IT managed security services in several critical ways. First, the company's engineers understand industrial protocols and can distinguish between legitimate process control traffic and potential threats. A sudden spike in Modbus traffic might indicate a cyber attack, or it might reflect a planned production ramp-up. IT-focused security operations centers often lack this context, leading to either missed threats or excessive false positives that erode trust in security systems. Second, Rockwell coordinates security activities with production schedules, ensuring that vulnerability scans and patch deployments do not disrupt manufacturing operations. This operational awareness is essential in continuous process industries like chemicals and pharmaceuticals, where unplanned downtime can cost millions of dollars per hour.

The Fortinet integration also demonstrates Rockwell's evolving partner ecosystem strategy. Historically, the company focused primarily on its own hardware and software platforms, viewing third-party products as competitive threats. However, the reality of modern industrial networks is that they incorporate components from dozens of vendors. By embracing multi-vendor support, Rockwell positions itself as a trusted advisor rather than just a product vendor, building customer relationships that extend beyond individual product purchases. This strategy mirrors approaches taken by Emerson with its Plantweb digital ecosystem and ABB with its Ability platform, both of which integrate third-party devices and data sources.

For existing Rockwell customers running Fortinet firewalls, the expanded SecureOT service offers immediate operational benefits. Organizations no longer need to maintain separate support relationships with Rockwell for control systems and Fortinet for network security. Instead, they receive integrated monitoring and incident response from a single provider with deep expertise in both domains. This consolidation simplifies vendor management, reduces support costs, and improves accountability during security incidents. For security teams already stretched thin managing multiple alerts from different systems, having a single pane of glass for OT security monitoring represents a significant quality-of-life improvement.

The expansion also has implications for compliance management. Many manufacturers face regulatory requirements to demonstrate comprehensive security monitoring across their OT environments. Standards like the North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection standards for utilities and the Food and Drug Administration's cybersecurity guidance for medical device manufacturers require continuous monitoring and documented incident response procedures. Rockwell's managed services include automated compliance reporting, reducing the administrative burden on manufacturers and providing auditors with consistent, verifiable evidence of security controls.

Industry analysts view the Fortinet integration as part of a broader trend toward security-as-a-service in industrial automation. According to a 2026 report from ARC Advisory Group, the global market for OT managed security services is expected to grow from $2.8 billion in 2025 to $6.2 billion by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 17.2 percent. This growth reflects both increasing cyber threats targeting industrial systems and the recognition that most manufacturers lack the internal resources to manage security effectively. Rockwell's expansion positions the company to capture a larger share of this growing market, particularly among its existing installed base of over 100,000 customers worldwide.

The technical implementation of SecureOT for Fortinet involves deploying Rockwell's FactoryTalk InnovationSuite edge gateways alongside existing Fortinet devices. These gateways collect telemetry data from both the firewalls and the connected control systems, correlating network events with process data to provide context-rich security alerts. For example, if a Fortinet firewall detects unusual traffic patterns on a port connected to a PLC, the FactoryTalk platform can determine whether the activity corresponds to legitimate engineering workstation access or represents a potential threat. This contextual analysis reduces false positives and enables faster, more accurate incident response.

Rockwell has also introduced tiered service levels for SecureOT, allowing organizations to select the level of support that matches their risk profile and budget. The Essential tier provides 24/7 monitoring and basic incident response, suitable for manufacturers with lower risk tolerance and limited internal security staff. The Advanced tier adds proactive threat hunting, vulnerability management, and quarterly security assessments, targeting organizations in critical infrastructure sectors. The Premium tier includes dedicated security engineers, custom playbooks, and integration with enterprise security information and event management systems, designed for large manufacturers with complex, multi-site operations.

The pricing model reflects the managed services approach, with monthly fees based on the number of protected devices and selected service tier. Rockwell has indicated that pricing is competitive with building an internal security operations center, particularly when accounting for the costs of hiring and training specialized OT security personnel. For a mid-sized manufacturer with 500 connected devices, the Advanced tier service costs approximately $15,000 per month, compared to the estimated $500,000 annual cost of employing two full-time OT security analysts with equivalent capabilities.

Customer response to the Fortinet integration has been positive, particularly among organizations that had previously struggled to find security support for their mixed environments. A pharmaceutical manufacturer in New Jersey reported that the integrated service reduced their mean time to detect OT security incidents from 72 hours to under 4 hours. A food and beverage company in California noted that the service helped them achieve IEC 62443 compliance six months ahead of schedule, avoiding potential regulatory penalties. These early success stories suggest that Rockwell's multi-vendor approach resonates with manufacturers facing real-world complexity rather than idealized single-vendor architectures.

Looking ahead, Rockwell has indicated plans to extend SecureOT support to additional firewall platforms, including Palo Alto Networks and Cisco, further expanding the service's applicability across diverse industrial environments. The company is also investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to enhance threat detection and automate routine security tasks. These investments aim to improve service quality while controlling costs, ensuring that managed security remains economically viable as the customer base grows.

The expansion of SecureOT to support Fortinet firewalls represents more than a product enhancement. It signals a fundamental shift in how industrial automation vendors approach cybersecurity, moving from device-centric protection to comprehensive, managed security services that span the entire OT environment. As cyber threats continue to evolve and regulatory requirements become more stringent, manufacturers will increasingly rely on specialized service providers to protect their critical infrastructure. Rockwell's strategy positions the company to be a leading provider of these services, leveraging its deep industrial expertise to deliver security outcomes rather than just security products. For more information on ControlLogix, visit our ControlLogix collection. For more information on Rockwell support, visit our Rockwell support collection.