On March 26th 2013, security vendor Fortinet, Inc. entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Coyote Point Systems, Inc., a provider of application delivery, load balancing and acceleration solutions to small to medium-sized business (SMB) and enterprise customers.

The Coyote Point Systems acquisition is designed to strengthen Fortinet’s data center offerings for both enterprise and SMB customers. Although there are hurdles to be overcome, NSS Labs considers this a positive move for current and potential Fortinet customers. For Coyote Point Systems customers, however, the story is more complicated. This brief discusses our findings and makes recommendations, particularly for Coyote Point customers.