Network security firm Fortinet has recruited three new members to its Africa team to reinforce its go-to-market strategy.

The company has announced the appointment of Matthew Barker as Senior Major Accounts Manager – Wireless Technologies; Jakes Wolfaardt as Systems Engineer Advanced Technologies in Southern Africa; and Dean Horsten as a Secure Wireless Technology expert.

This reinforcement of the team aims at expanding its business growth on the African market, says Perry Hutton, Regional Vice President - Africa at Fortinet. "As the African market matures, we are seeing increased demand for advanced network security solutions across the continent, and resulting strong growth for Fortinet in Africa.

Since our go-to-market strategy relies heavily on our channel partner ecosystem, it is vital that we enable our channel with a high level of technical expertise and knowledge transfer. Our new appointments will bolster our ability to support the channel in South Africa and across the continent," he says.

The new appointments are in line with the company's global strategy to increase its footprint in terms of physical presence as well as in specific verticals.

Hutton refers to the company's investment in the wireless business last year and its continued investment in dedicated specialist wireless experts.

The company's objectives for 2016 have not changed says Hutton and the focus is to become the largest network security appliance vendor. "For this to happen it is essential that the company continues performing. In Africa, we are fortunate to already be in the number one position, according to IDC. We need to not only maintain the position, but continue to grow our market share," he says.

Towards the end of last year the company identified several key trends within IT security that impact on business strategy development including network segregation, the need for a 'wall' to separate public wireless networks and internal corporate networks, as well as the increased relevance of the CSIO within the corporate space.

According to Fortinet telcos are selling Security as a Service and dynamic profile technology is beginning to gain traction, and there is also more attention by ISPs to traffic quality and threats to minimise impact on service delivery to customers.

While authentication is considered the first level of wireless security, users must also take some degree of responsibility: specifically to avoid assuming that a free wireless network is automatically safe, the company explains.

Hutton has described wireless as a "gaping hole" and said unless networks are managed efficiently, someone will get burnt.