Case Study: Wellington Catholic District School Board achieves 30% TCO reduction and secure remote learning with Fortinet FortiSASE

Canadian School District Enhances Remote User Security and Drives Operational Efficiencies with FortiSASE

Wellington Catholic District School Board (WCDSB), which serves more than 8,000 students across 26 sites in Guelph and Wellington County, Ontario, needed to extend the same level of protection for staff and students working remotely that it had on campus. Although the district had already modernized its WAN with Fortinet Secure SD‑WAN, the pandemic-driven move to remote learning exposed gaps in remote access, endpoint protection, and scalable security management—challenges made harder by a small IT team and tight budgets.

WCDSB adopted Fortinet’s FortiSASE alongside its existing Fortinet Security Fabric to deliver ZTNA, secure web gateway, CASB functionality and single‑pane management, easing migration from FortiClient. The integrated, single‑vendor approach enabled faster deployment with minimal training, improved user experience with Single Sign‑On, and consistent on‑premises and cloud security—driving a 30% reduction in total cost of ownership and saving about 2,000 hours of annual training time.

Wellington Catholic District School Board

Peter VanDorp

Cybersecurity Analyst