Case Study: Guardian Pharmacy Services achieves robust security and simplified network management with Fortinet Hybrid Mesh Firewall

Pharmacy Service Provider Solidifies Lead in Automated Dispensing with Hybrid Mesh Firewall Approach

Guardian Pharmacy Services is a national pharmacy service provider founded in 2004 that operates 43 pharmacies across 33 states and depends on robotic dispensing to package and deliver medications. Rapid growth and a patchwork of different firewalls, switches, and limited IT staff (two people) left the company facing management, security, and uptime challenges—particularly the need to protect robotic dispensing systems, ensure seamless circuit failover, and simplify integrations from acquisitions.

Guardian deployed a Fortinet Hybrid Mesh Firewall architecture—FortiGate NGFWs (physical and Azure VMs), Secure SD‑WAN, SD‑Branch (FortiSwitch/FortiAP), FortiManager/FortiAnalyzer, FortiClient/FortiAuthenticator, and FortiGuard services—to centralize management, segment OT from IT, and automate updates and reporting. The result: stronger end‑to‑end security, reliable failover and VLAN isolation for robots and VoIP, easier cyber‑insurance underwriting, faster integration of acquired sites, substantial cost savings and agility (including a 95% smaller IT‑staff requirement versus a non‑Fortinet setup).

Guardian Pharmacy Services

Mathis Colquitt

Manager, IT Infrastructure and Security