Fortinet FortiGate 1801F LENC Firewall (FG-1801F-LENC)

Some data centers need the FortiGate 1801F’s throughput but also want the appliance itself to hold a slice of local storage for logs and forensics, not just ship everything to a management cloud. That’s exactly what the FG-1801F-LENC is: the FortiGate 1800F-series appliance with 2x 960GB onboard NVMe SSD built in, sold hardware-only so a network team can pair it with whatever FortiGuard license term fits their environment. It’s the same NP7/CP9-accelerated chassis as the FG-1801F, just with drives already installed.

What’s in the Box

The FG-1801F-LENC ships as a bare 2RU appliance: dual AC power supplies, the full interface set from the 1800F series, and 2x 960GB NVMe SSD pre-installed for local log retention. No FortiCare support or FortiGuard security subscription is included in this SKU, so plan to add a service term (see below) before putting it into production.

Where It’s Strong

At 22 Gbps of IPS throughput with NP7 hardware acceleration, the 1801F-LENC sits comfortably in data center edge and campus core roles: hybrid mesh firewall deployments, secure SD-WAN hubs, and segmentation projects that need to inspect a lot of east-west traffic without becoming the bottleneck. The onboard SSD matters most when a team wants local log buffering, either as a stopgap before FortiAnalyzer/FortiGate Cloud picks up the retention job, or as insurance against a WAN outage to the log collector.

Hardware Alone vs. Bundle

Buying the FG-1801F-LENC hardware only makes sense for organizations that already hold FortiCare and FortiGuard entitlements they plan to transfer, or that want to shop the license term separately (1, 3, or 5 years) instead of locking into whatever term a bundle SKU packages. For most new deployments, DataCenter360.ca still recommends adding at least a 1-year UTP or Enterprise subscription at checkout so the box has IPS, antivirus, and support coverage from day one.

Who Runs It

Typical buyers are mid-to-large enterprise network teams, MSSPs building out multi-tenant firewall clusters, and data center operators consolidating branch or campus edges onto fewer, faster appliances. The dual power supplies and 2RU rack form factor fit standard data center racking without special mounting hardware.

Moving Up

If 22 Gbps of IPS throughput isn’t enough headroom, the next step up in the same generation is the FortiGate 2600F series, including the SSD-equipped FG-2601F-LENC, which raises interface density and inspection throughput while keeping the same NP7/CP9 architecture and FortiOS feature set. Sizing a 2600F now instead of two refresh cycles later can save a migration project down the line.

Buying from DataCenter360.ca

DataCenter360.ca stocks the FG-1801F-LENC as new, sealed hardware with free shipping across Canada in 0–1 business days. As an authorized Fortinet Select Partner, we can also quote the matching FortiCare and FortiGuard subscription, rack rail kit, or transceiver alongside the appliance so the order arrives ready to rack and license in one shipment.