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Ken Xie

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Ken Xie
Born1963 (age 61–62)
Beijing, China
CitizenshipAmerican
EducationTsinghua University
Stanford University
Known forCo-founder of Fortinet and NetScreen
TitleCEO and chairman, Fortinet
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese謝青
Simplified Chinese谢青
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXiè Qīng

Ken Xie (Chinese: 谢青; pinyin: Xiè Qīng) is a Chinese-born American billionaire businessman who founded Systems Integration Solutions (SIS), NetScreen, and Fortinet. He is CEO of Fortinet, a cybersecurity firm based in Silicon Valley. Xie was previously the CEO of NetScreen, which was acquired by Juniper Networks for $4 billion in 2004. He built the first ASIC-based firewall/VPN appliance in 1996.[2]

Early life and education

Xie was born and raised in China.[3] He enjoyed electrical engineering and repairing televisions and radios as a hobby.[4] He graduated from Tsinghua University with a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering,[3][5] and from Stanford University with an M.S. in electrical engineering.[6]

Career

In 1993, Xie founded a network security company, Systems Integration Solutions (SIS).[6] As a tinkerer in his garage in Palo Alto, California, Xie built the first ASIC-based firewall/VPN appliance in 1996.[2] That same year he founded NetScreen Technologies, an online security firm, with Yan Ke and Feng Deng.[6][7] The company was later acquired by Juniper Networks Inc. for $4 billion. In 2000, Xie left NetScreen to work on building Fortinet alongside his brother Michael Xie, an electrical engineer.[6]

Fortinet

In 2000, Xie and his brother Michael Xie[8] created Fortinet in order to, according to Xie, sell additional security tools modeling both content and applications.[9] Xie has stated that he founded Fortinet because of the need for a much larger footprint for security and the fact that security must be embedded in the end-to-end computing and networking infrastructure.[10] The Xie brothers launched the initial FortiGate products in May 2002.[11] Xie has focused Fortinet on developing a Unified Threat Management approach to information security.[12] Xie serves as Fortinet’s CEO, while his brother is president and chief technology officer.[6] In 2016, Xie led the launch of the Network Security Academy, which trained students in the field of cybersecurity.[13] In June 2018, Xie led the acquisition of Bradford Networks, a lot-focused security firm.[14] Xie represents Fortinet as a founding member and member of the board of directors of the Cyber Threat Alliance.[15][16] In January 2019, Xie was a discussion leader for the Centre for Cybersecurity’s cyber workforce session at Davos’ World Economic Forum (WEF) summit.[17]

Awards

For his "contributions to cybersecurity, including network security systems and services," Xie was made a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2013.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Forbes profile: Ken Xie". Forbes. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b Taulli, Tom (6 February 2012). "The Man Who Made Two Multibillion-Dollar Companies". Forbes. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b Villano, Matt (15 October 2004). "Ken Xie". CRN. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Fortinet CEO on fending off cyber attacks in the new generation, and why he likes Fortnite". The Mercury News. 2018-09-06. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  5. ^ "Faculty Member and Alumni Elected to NAS, AAAS and NAE" (PDF). Tsinghua Newsletter. No. 23. Tsinghua University. May 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e Stupples, Benjamin (February 7, 2019). "Silicon Valley Brothers Build Billion Dollar Cyber-Security Fortunes". Bloomberg.
  7. ^ Garcia, Arturo (2017-08-20). "CEO Spotlight: Fortinet's Ken Xie". Born2Invest. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
  8. ^ Hill, Karen (2012). International Directory of Company Histories: Fortinet. Vol. 128. St James Press. pp. 223–227.
  9. ^ Kuranda, Sarah (28 June 2017). "Q&A: Fortinet CEO Xie On Why The Company Will Beat Cisco, Palo Alto Networks And Check Point As The Network Security Market Evolves". CRN. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  10. ^ Woods, Dan. "Cybersecurity's Future: Powered by Hardware". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  11. ^ Gundry, Lisa K.; Kickul, Jill R. (2006-08-14). Entrepreneurship Strategy: Changing Patterns in New Venture Creation, Growth, and Reinvention. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781483316857.
  12. ^ McMillan, Robert (November 18, 2009). "Security Vendor Fortinet Sparkles in IPO". IDG News. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  13. ^ "Fortinet Founder And CEO On How To Protect Next Generation IT Infrastructures". Cybercrime Magazine. 2018-08-30. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  14. ^ "Fortinet Acquires Bradford Networks to Extend Security to the Edge | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  15. ^ Taylor, Harriet (15 January 2015). "Security firms forge alliance to fight growing cyber threat". CNBC. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  16. ^ Barth, Bradley (13 February 2017). "Cyber Threat Alliance grows to six founding members; introduces Mike Daniel as president". SC Media. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  17. ^ "Fortinet to lead cyber security discussion at WEF annual summit". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  18. ^ "Mr. Ken Q. Xie". National Academy of Engineering Member Listings. NAE.edu.
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