Atos and Fortinet extend cybersecurity pact to global managed services

Atos and Fortinet are scaling their partnership from country-level agreements to a single global framework covering managed security and multi-cloud environments.

By The Datatech Times Editorial Team AI level 2 of 5
AI level 2 of 5: drafted by our AI editorial assistant from the company's announcement; fact-checked, edited and signed off by Mark Walker, Editorial Director. What the levels mean
A well-lit server room corridor with black server racks displaying numerous indicator lights, leading to a large multi-panel screen showcasing a vibrant, abstract circuit board design.

Atos and Fortinet have announced an expansion of their existing cybersecurity partnership, moving from a collection of country-by-country arrangements to a single, globally coordinated engagement model. The revised agreement covers reselling, managed cybersecurity services, joint business development and unified commercial terms, with the stated aim of helping enterprise clients secure hybrid and multi-cloud environments at scale.

The deal brings together Fortinet's security platform, which spans Secure Networking, Unified SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) and AI-driven security operations, with Atos' managed security capabilities, consulting practice and a global network of 17 security operations centres (SOCs). Atos says those SOCs process more than 31 billion security events per day and serve over 2,000 customers worldwide. The company employs more than 6,500 cybersecurity specialists and holds 205 cybersecurity patents.

The deal

Günter Koinegg, global head of cybersecurity services at Atos, said the expanded arrangement "aligns with our strategy to harness leading technology ecosystems to deliver integrated, outcome-driven solutions for our clients," adding that it would help customers address security challenges in what he termed "the AI era."

Thomas Desrues, SVP of channel sales international at Fortinet, described the shift to a globally coordinated alliance as building on "strong complementarity" between the two firms, and said the combined offering would help organisations navigate "the growing demands for sovereignty, high performance, and security in AI environments."

The partnership extends Atos' existing portfolio across network security, Zero Trust, cloud security, SASE architecture and SOC services. No financial terms, contract values or named customer wins were disclosed in the release.

Market context

The managed security services market is experiencing significant consolidation and competitive pressure as enterprise buyers seek to reduce the number of point-product vendors and move towards platform-based security architectures. Fortinet competes directly with Palo Alto Networks, Check Point Software and Cisco in the platform security space, while Atos faces competition from other large managed-security providers including IBM Security, Accenture and Capgemini.

The cybersecurity talent shortage cited by both parties as a driver for the deal is well-documented: demand for security professionals continues to outstrip supply across Europe and North America, making fully managed SOC services an increasingly attractive proposition for mid-market and enterprise buyers who cannot staff security functions in-house.

Regulatory read-across

The regulatory backdrop adds urgency to the partnership's stated focus on sovereignty and multi-cloud security. The EU's NIS2 Directive, which extended mandatory cyber-incident reporting and security obligations to a far broader set of organisations, came into force in member states from October 2024. DORA, the Digital Operational Resilience Act, imposes specific ICT risk-management and third-party oversight requirements on financial-services firms from January 2025. Both frameworks require organisations to demonstrate active management of their security supply chain, which creates a structural opportunity for vendors offering consolidated managed services with auditable global delivery capabilities.

Atos Group, listed on Euronext Paris with reported annual revenue of approximately €7.2 billion, has been restructuring its business over the past two years. Cybersecurity sits within the Atos services brand alongside digital workplace and cloud transformation. The Eviden brand covers security products, including data encryption and identity management tools designed and manufactured in Europe to European certification standards. The global Fortinet agreement marks one of the more significant commercial moves under Atos' revised operating structure, and both parties will likely be measured on named enterprise wins and expanded SOC capacity in the quarters ahead.

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