Case Study: University of the Western Cape achieves zero security incidents and streamlined IT and bandwidth management with Fortinet

University of the Western Cape - Customer Case Study

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) needed stronger, easier‑to‑manage security to protect 300 datacentre servers, sensitive student and staff data, and a campus of 25,000 Wi‑Fi users while operating with a lean 50‑person IT team. Moving from a basic Linux firewall, UWC required IPS, application control, antivirus, advanced firewall features, per‑IP bandwidth shaping and simplified dashboards and log aggregation to reduce management time and control bandwidth costs.

UWC deployed clustered FortiGate appliances with two virtual firewall BDOMs, FortiAnalyzer and subscriptions for IPS, application control, antivirus, vulnerability scanning and email filtering. The solution delivered quick implementation, simplified management (now manageable by one systems administrator), effective per‑user bandwidth shaping and consolidated reporting — resulting in fewer than five incidents a year historically and no security incidents this year.

University of the Western Cape

Elroy October

Systems Administrator