>> Narrator: Live from Orlando, Florida.
It's the Cube.
Covering Accelerate 19.
Brought to you by Fortinet.
>> Welcome back to the Cube's coverage
of Fortinet Accelerate 2019 live from Orlando, Florida.
I'm Lisa Martin with Peter Burris
and we are welcoming to the cube for the first time
Jeff Fowley, Senior Business Development Manager
from Siemens.
Jeff thanks for joining Peter and me today.
>> Thanks for having me I appreciate it.
>> So everybody knows Siemens in some form or fashion
or capacity.
Here we are at a cyber security event.
Talk to us a little bit about what Siemens and Fortinet
are doing together as partners and a little bit about
your role in biz dev.
>> Sure.
The organization, the part of Siemens that I'm a part of
is more of a digital industries.
So what we do is a lot in the operational technology
environment area.
It's more of the harsh environments, oil and gas,
waste water, rail transportation.
We do a lot of the communication and the cyber security
around that.
We're working with Fortinet in order to bring
the best of the IT practices in cyber security into that
OT environment.
We're doing a collaboration between the two,
because there's that communication that needs to happen.
They still need that access point into that OT environment.
>> Now explain why.
Because IT guys have grown up
presuming that everything was going to to be connected
and a lot of business leaders presume that everything's
going to be connected.
The OT guys have had to work in a very, very different world
where they've had to do real time work
sometimes for 30 years.
Take us a little bit through that dynamic,
and why is it that today we actually can start having
conversations about how these two things come together,
work together and generate value together.
>> Typically from an operational technology environment
when they put something together,
normally for a 20 or 30 year span,
they want to put something in the network or the environment
that's going to last, that's going to be out there.
They don't change it, they don't upgrade it,
normally as they do in an IT environment,
which typically has a five year life cycle.
So, in that OT environment, what's happening,
times are changing, all these cyber attacks are happening.
They're being mandated to do this.
A good example is in 2005 President Obama
signed into legislative order that we must, in the U.S.,
secure our critical infrastructure.
Part of that securing that is saying
we're going to make sure that we're not going to be hacked.
Because in the utility market,
if we take down four of the major interconnects
between the power grid, it's stated that the U.S.
would become a third world country in eight days.
So what we're doing is >> Peter: Let's not do that.
>> No, we're trying to help prevent that.
By doing so, we need to add security.
Historically, from an OT environment, it's always been about
there's not been remote access,
there's not been that connectivity.
It's always been about electrical and mechanical devices.
But now as these devices are getting smarter,
they're getting more intelligent,
there's more information you gain out of it,
you get more efficiency,
and more information out of it
so you can do your job better.
You can do remote access.
Like in Florida here we have a bunch of hurricanes.
There's the ability to say, after a hurricane,
I can get remote access, or I can do that communication
out to these devices, where you wouldn't be able to do
periodically in the past.
Because of that connectivity, we need to start securing
our infrastructure to make sure
that as we get access to that there's potential
that the bad guys could get access to those devices too.
We're working with our product portfolio
and partners like Fortinet in order to make sure
that we're applying the best of the IT security
in the OT world.
>> So in this convergence you're talking probably with folks
who are not used to change.
Change is hard for everybody however, as you said,
back in 2005 this became a presidential mandate, but also,
>> I think it was 2015 wasn't it?
>> 2005 Obama signed into
>> Peter: He wasn't president until 2008.
>> Oh, I'm sorry, yay, 15.
>> Lisa: Thank you for the math help.
>> Missing the one.
>> Yay, just a few years ago.
And the math expert.
So just a few years ago there was this mandate
from President Obama which we clarified
was only four years ago.
But historically folks that are not used to having to change
systems so quickly, yet here's this mandate.
There's also this increasing abundance of cyber attacks.
How would you have those, I presume, difficult
conversations with the OT side about the opportunity
for OT, IT convergence and the benefits of
why they have to get on board with this.
>> Historically from the OT side
they have been very reluctant to do something like this.
They want to own their own environment.
They want to do that.
It's always been their perception that
if you bring that cyber security to IT world,
into that OT environment
it's going to hinder their operations.
But that's not really the case.
The convergence of IT and OT has been happening
for decades now.
I started my job at Siemens in 2000 in the telecom world
and we were doing that convergence of IT and OT
back in 2000 when we were doing voice over IP.
>> Right.
>> Because that was happening back them.
So this convergence of It and OT, it's an ongoing thing
it's just in different markets or different industries.
Now that we doing that, bringing it in there,
they're starting to have that conversation,
but then it becomes if really who owns the operation,
or who owns that security.
OT still wants to drive their own,
they want to own their own.
Where IT is saying, look we have the knowledge,
we have the experience, let's help you get there.
So there's generally a demarkation point
that they've come to an agreement on,
where IT will say we're going to help you to this point,
and then you can own all the critical assets
out on the far end.
>> Let's talk about that demarkation point.
What characterizes that demarkation point?
Where are we today because we're moving from
hardwired 30 year footprint
to increasingly wireless, faster?
We're moving towards that but how far are we?
When you're talking to customers,
what are the attributes of that demarkation point?
>> It's interesting because we still have customers
that are on dial up communication, serial communication,
ethernet, fiber, wireless, LTE.
So there's a broad range of what we call the pipe.
The pipe is a communication just between
the IT side down to the OT side.
What really helps to find that demarkation is
when you get down to what are the critical assets.
What's really the operation?
What's really making money for that company?
Those are the assets
that really the operational organization's own.
And then the IT side really provides that communication
down to that point.
>> Got it.
So it's really business specific.
But are we starting to see, well,
it's got a little bit more processing power
or there's these security attributes
that are associated with it.
Are OT guys picking up on IT related security,
certain elements of it faster than others?
>> They are.
It's region and it's industry specific.
And it's really what's driving it.
So in the U.S., like I mentioned the utility sector.
The utility sector has a requirement, it's called NERCEP.
These NERCEP requirements said you must do these things
and they get very specific to the point of
you must have something that will detect antivirus
or malware, you must do this.
If you look into Canada.
Canada just recently passed OEB requirements
for Ontario and those are based upon frameworks,
cyber security frameworks to do that.
It's really the industry that they're in
and the region that they're as to what's really driving that
or how deep and far they're going to go.
>> And it goes back to your original point.
It's been driven by regulatory edict or past exposure
and trying to make sure it doesn't happen again.
>> They don't want to make the news
and they don't want to be pushed by the government.
But those are really the two things in the
operational technology environment
that's really driving for that cyber.
>> Can you share one of your favorite success stories
that really highlights the opportunities that
OT and IT convergence have enabled
for customers of Fortinet and Siemens?
>> Again, because I'm global experience around the world.
But actually one of the favorites,
there's actually two of them that have happened
just here in North America.
One is in Texas and one is in Canada.
Both of these requirements came to say that they
had a specific date that they needed to make
requirements to meet the regulatory otherwise
they were going to get fined.
They came to us.
Both of them were pretty last minute.
What we were able to do, is to say look,
we have this platform that's rated for harsh environment
that's into your network and provide that communication
so then what we can do is we can work with our IT partners,
put that application on that OT environment
and then install and get it certified
for your application.
There was two of them, like I said.
One in the U.S. and one in Canada.
We made the deadlines, where they came back and said,
thank you very much and they're very appreciative of that.
>> How quickly were you able to get this up and running
so they didn't miss the deadline and were able to
start gleaming value from this?
>> I just did a write up on one of them.
We got a phone call on a Friday that they needed
to provide a solution.
So we worked over the weekend and on Monday,
we proposed that solution.
Once you do that, you know obviously
they need to go through their value chain
to get the sign offs and we had to go through out process,
but it was within 30 days we were able to install
and make their deadline
and make sure that they were compliant.
>> That is a pretty good marketing message to deliver.
That you guys could enable such a big convergence
in a month's period.
>> Jeff: A 30 day period, yay.
>> Pretty impressive.
We all worked.
>> There was a deadline, we all worked toward that.
It was a trusted partner thing.
The customer came to us, they were asking for some stuff.
They trusted us to do that.
So like I said, we worked over the weekend
to help them do that.
We felt we had the right solution
to address their requirements and at the end of the day
we were able to meet that 30 day deadline.
>> But the trust is not just with you.
It's not just with Siemens.
It's with an expanding array of companies
that Siemens is working with.
>> Jeff: That's correct.
>> What is it like working with a company, like Fortinet,
to try and ensure, that these new domains,
that are characterized by enormous uncertainty,
technological, operational, organizational,
are not undermined by challenges of crafting
that solution together in such a ways
that it can be implemented quickly and
with a high degree facility.
>> I think it's a great opportunity for Siemens and Fortinet
to be working together, only from the fact of
Fortinet has got the history, they've got the technology,
they've got the name in their market space,
and they've got the capability to deliver that.
Siemens, if you look from our customer space
and our environment, we are very well developed
and well entrenched in our customers.
So to be able to bring the technology
and the experience and the know-how,
and bring those IT cyber security requirements
which are now being pushed down into the OT environment
in no amount of time.
There's no development needed, there's no additional stuff.
Fortinet already has that knowledge from the IT space.
So to bring that into the OT environment
is very beneficial, I think, to both of us,
in order to help drive their customer opportunities
in our market.
>> They talked a lot this morning, during the keynote,
about where they are
from a competitive leadership perspective.
That was peppered a lot throughout the first
at least 90 minutes of the keynote.
But presumably, obviously everybody has choice.
Everybody likes choice.
Siemens has choice there.
I'm just curious to get your take
on some of the announcements that came out today
from Fortinet.
Does that excite Siemens?
Where you involved in that, in terms of being able
to take the next set of customers
who have the same challenge that you described with the
Texas based and Canada based customers,
and show them we can help you together,
Siemens and Fortinet, transform in 30 days.
>> I think it's very exciting what Fortinet's doing
in the new capabilities and functionality
that they're coming out with.
I think that's really going to be able to enhance our
offering, because this is really a differentiator for us.
If you look at us from the operational technology side
there's not a lot of people out there who can actually do
what Fortinet's able to bring to the table.
All these additional features and functionalities
that's coming out by Fortinet to be able to put it onto
our platform and our environment
and to be able to offer that in operational technology side,
I think is a big differentiator from our competitors
for both Fortinet and for Siemens to be able to jointly
provide this offering to our customers.
>> One question about your competition.
A lot of companies like Siemens,
that are especially strong in the OT space,
not just your customers but suppliers like yourselves,
have also struggled a bit as they try to navigate
that way forward to a convergence of IT and OT,
an appropriate convergence of IT and OT.
What is it about Siemens that has allowed you to
not stub your toe, or cut off your leg,
like some of the competitors?
>> I believe that's because we've had a long history
in both the IT and the OT space.
If you look at the vertical, or the digital industries
that we're in right now, it's been very much OT centric
for the last 25, 30 years, but Siemens is 379 thousand
people world wide strong.
We're very embracing the newer technology
and the newer capabilities.
Myself, starting with Siemens 20 years ago
with an IT background, being able to bring that
knowledge, that ability and doing that convergence
of IT and OT within Siemens for so long,
I think we understand our customers
and we've been listening to them.
And then we're partnering up with companies like Fortinet
helps us bring that technology and capability
to our customers.
>> So that expertise, that partnership,
what's your recommendation as we wrap things up here,
for customers who are at the precipice of being able to
understand why IT and OT need to convergence?
What's your recommendation for them
to tackle this challenge successfully?
>> I think the best advice I could have,
is let's sit down and have that conversation.
Let's see what the requirements are.
Let's see what they are trying to accomplish,
because I believe with the solutions that Siemens has
between the communication, the network, and the security
and then the technology and the capabilities
that Fortinet's bring to that table,
we can help design a customized solution
for their environment in order to make sure
that they can address their cyber security needs.
>> And do so quickly.
Well, Jeff thank you so much for joining Peter and me
on the Cube this afternoon.
We appreciate your time.
>> Thank you for having me.
>> For Peter Burris, I'm Lisa Martin.
You're watching the cube.