Case Study: Illinois Century Network secures statewide K-12 broadband connectivity and reduces TCO with Fortinet

Illinois Century Network Partners with Fortinet to Protect K-12 Broadband Connectivity

Illinois Century Network (ICN) is the state-run broadband provider that delivers free high-speed internet to public K–12 schools across Illinois. Faced with aging infrastructure, a tight timeline and rising cyber threats (including ransomware and DDoS) — plus uneven local IT resources in many districts — ICN needed to upgrade to 100 Gbps-capable WAN hardware and add robust, easy-to-manage security at the WAN edge so schools could safely access modern, bandwidth-intensive learning tools.

ICN selected Fortinet’s FortiGate firewalls, managed with FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, deploying NGFWs at key data centers and moving from standalone to standby-active configurations with plans for active-active load balancing. The deployment secured connectivity for more than 200 districts (about 1,660 schools), added no measurable latency, reduced firewall management time, and cut total cost of ownership — with ICN estimating millions in capital and operating savings over five years.

Illinois Century Network

Andre Bouravnev

Network Supervisor