US cybersecurity firm Fortinet opened up shop in downtown Calgary last week, reflecting the city’s growing place in the global tech sector.
The news: Fortinet, which develops and sells cybersecurity products as well as carrying out cybersecurity research, unveiled the hub on Sept. 16. The eight-storey, $30-million investment features a cybersecurity community hub, a customer experience centre, a training facility, and a Fortinet Cloud point of presence that the company says will bring Fortinet’s cloud security network closer to Alberta organizations.
From the source: “Alberta’s core industries are undergoing massive digital modernization right now, connecting physical operations to the cloud,” Gordon Phillips, Fortinet’s regional vice-president for Western Canada, told BetaKit in an emailed statement. “Our presence in Calgary will allow us to collaborate much more closely with partners and customers across the province.”
The context: The company’s Calgary hub joins Burnaby, BC, and Ottawa as homes for Fortinet’s Canadian operations. Fortinet said Calgary’s research operations will focus on both AI-driven cybersecurity threats and risks to operational technology (OT). OT is hardware and software used to monitor or control physical, industrial equipment or infrastructure. Security around OT is particularly important in Alberta, where much of the province’s cornerstone industries, like oil and gas, are integrating physical and digital operations.
Final thought: Fortinet’s decision to lay down roots in Calgary underpins the city’s continued momentum within the Canadian and broader tech sector. This past summer, Calgary emerged as the fastest growing ecosystem in the country, having added more than 900 tech companies to its roster in just five years. That crowning achievement came on the heels of a deliberate effort by the city—home to some of Canada’s biggest FinTech, healthtech, and aerospace startups—to diversify itself away from a strictly oil and gas economy toward and position itself as an innovation capital.
While Fortinet is framing expansion as an affirmation of its commitment to the Canadian market, its decision to do so in Calgary is reflective of a maturing ecosystem that has become top of mind for many US and international companies.
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.
Feature image courtesy Fortinet.