Fortinet FortiGate-3500F

Fortinet FortiGate 3500F Series

Overview

The FortiGate 3500F Series is a hyperscale next-generation firewall designed for high-performance data centre cores, internet edge deployments, and large enterprise networks that need maximum throughput with security services enabled. Built on FortiOS and Fortinets Security Fabric, it supports Hybrid Mesh Firewall architectures by weaving security across the data centre and hybrid IT environmentsprotecting any edge at any scale. With integrated Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) enforcement within the NGFW, the 3500F Series automatically controls, verifies, and enables access to applications to reduce lateral movement and improve security consistency across distributed networks.

Enterprise Traffic Mix Performance

• IPS Throughput: 72 Gbps

• NGFW Throughput: 65 Gbps

• Threat Protection Throughput: 63 Gbps

• SSL Inspection Throughput (IPS avg HTTPS): 63 Gbps

• SSL Inspection CPS: 60,000

• IPsec VPN Throughput (512 byte): 165 Gbps

• SSL-VPN Throughput: 16 Gbps

• Recommended Concurrent SSL-VPN Users (Tunnel Mode): 30,000

Performance values are measured with logging enabled for IPS/NGFW/Threat Protection in enterprise traffic mix conditions.

Interfaces & Connectivity

Built for flexible high-speed aggregation and segmentation:

• 6 x 100GE QSFP28 / 40GE QSFP+ slots

• 32 x 25GE SFP28 / 10GE SFP+ / GE SFP slots

• 2 x 10GE / GE RJ45 Management Ports

• USB ports (Client/Server): 1 / 1

• RJ45 Console Port: 1

This port mix supports high-density 25G access and 100G uplinks for modern data centre designs.

System Performance & Scale

• IPv4 Firewall Throughput (1518 / 512 / 64 byte UDP): 595 / 590 / 420 Gbps

• IPv6 Firewall Throughput (1518 / 512 / 86 byte UDP): 595 / 590 / 420 Gbps

• Firewall Latency (64 byte UDP): 2.98 ¼s

• Firewall Throughput: 630 Mpps

• Concurrent Sessions (TCP): 140 Million / 348 Million*

• New Sessions per Second (TCP): 1 Million / 5 Million*

• Firewall Policies: 200,000

• SSL Inspection Concurrent Sessions: 15 Million

• Application Control Throughput (HTTP 64K): 135 Gbps

• Virtual Domains (VDOMs): 10 Default / 500 Maximum

• High Availability: Active-Active, Active-Passive, Clustering

*Higher session scale requires the Hyperscale Firewall License.

Security Services & Threat Protection

FortiGate 3500F integrates FortiGuard AI/ML-powered services and FortiOS security functions to protect against modern threats, including ransomware, malware, zero-days, and AI-powered attacks:

• AI/ML-backed IPS with deep packet and SSL inspection and virtual patching

• Anti-malware (AV + sandboxing) for known and unknown threats

• Application Control for visibility and policy enforcement

• Web/DNS Security (DNS filtering, URL filtering, IP reputation, anti-botnet)

• SaaS and Data Security including DLP and inline CASB support

• Zero-day prevention with AI-powered inline malware detection and MITRE ATT&CK mapping

• OT Security with protocol rules, OT app coverage, vulnerability correlation, and virtual patching

FortiOS & Operations

FortiOS delivers a unified operating system for converged networking and security across IT/OT/IoT and hybrid environments. It enables consistent policy enforcement, consolidated visibility, and Security Fabric integration to reduce operational complexity. GenAI enhancements in FortiOS help improve traffic analysis, anomaly detection, and remediation recommendations while maintaining high performance.

SPU Acceleration (NP7 + CP9)

The FortiGate 3500F Series is powered by Fortinets purpose-built Security Processing Units:

• NP7 (Network Processor): accelerates core networking functions, session setup, ultra-low latency performance, VPN, VXLAN termination, hardware logging, and elephant flows

• CP9 (Content Processor): accelerates SSL/TLS 1.3 decryption, IPS pre-scan/pre-match, signature correlation offload, application identification, and antivirus processing

This architecture helps keep Å“security-on inspection from becoming a performance bottleneck.

Hyperscale Firewall License

A perpetual Hyperscale Firewall License enables hardware acceleration of CGNAT capabilities using the NP7, including:

• Hardware session setup

• Firewall session logging

• NAT acceleration

Hardware & Platform Features

• Form Factor: 2RU rack mount

• Processors: NP7 + CP9

• Trusted Platform Module (TPM): hardware-based key generation/storage for stronger platform integrity

• Power: Dual AC, hot-swappable (1+1 redundancy)

• Onboard Storage:

  • FG-3500F: none

  • FG-3501F: 2 x 1.92TB SSD

• Noise Level: 53.5 dBA

• Power Consumption (Average / Max): 760 W / 1174 W (3500F)

Model Options

• FortiGate 3500F (FG-3500F): NP7/CP9 accelerated, dual AC power, no onboard storage

• FortiGate 3501F (FG-3501F): same platform + 2 x 1.92TB SSD onboard storage

Key Use Cases

• Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) for data centre and edge

• High-scale segmentation with VXLAN and Layer 4 firewall policy

• Secure SD-WAN for large distributed networks

• Hyperscale deployments requiring high session capacity and high throughput

• Mobile security for 4G/5G/IoT including CGNAT and IPv6 migration options

• High-throughput VPN aggregation and secure remote access

The FortiGate 3500F Series is built for organisations that need ultra-high throughput, dense 25G/100G connectivity, and consistent threat protection at scalewithout compromising performance under full inspection.