Ken Xie
Ken Xie (Chinese: 谢青; pinyin: Xiè Qīng) is an American billionaire businessman who founded Systems Integration Solutions (SIS), NetScreen, and Fortinet. He is CEO of Fortinet, a cybersecurity firm based in Silicon Valley. Xie was previously the CEO of NetScreen, which was acquired by Juniper Networks for $4 billion in 2004. He built the first ASIC-based firewall/VPN appliance in 1996.[2]
Ken Xie | |||||||
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Born | 1963 (age 57–58) Beijing, China | ||||||
Citizenship | American | ||||||
Education | Tsinghua University Stanford University | ||||||
Known for | Co-founder of Fortinet and NetScreen | ||||||
Net worth | US$4.2 billion (February 2021)[1] | ||||||
Title | CEO and chairman, Fortinet | ||||||
Chinese name | |||||||
Traditional Chinese | 謝青 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 谢青 | ||||||
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Early life
Xie was born and raised in China.[3] He graduated from Tsinghua University with a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering,[3][4] and from Stanford University with an M.S. in electrical engineering.
Career
In 1993, Xie founded a network security company, Systems Integration Solutions (SIS).[5] Xie built the first ASIC-based firewall/VPN appliance in 1996, in his garage in Palo Alto, California.[2] That same year he founded NetScreen Technologies, an online security firm, with Yan Ke and Feng Deng.[5][6] NetScreen Technologies was later acquired by Juniper Networks Inc. for $4 billion.
Fortinet
In 2000, Xie left NetScreen to create Fortinet with his brother Michael Xie, an electrical engineer.[7] Since then, Ken Xie has served as Fortinet's CEO, while Michael Xie is president and chief technology officer.[7][8]
Xie has stated that he founded Fortinet because he believed that security must be embedded in the end-to-end computing and networking infrastructure.[9] The Xie brothers launched the initial FortiGate products in May 2002.[10]
Xie has led Fortinet to acquire security monitoring firm AccelOps, endpoint security firm enSilo, and SOAR platform provider CyberSponse, among other companies.[11][12][13]
Xie was made a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2013.[14]
In June 2018, Xie led Fortinet's acquisition of Bradford Networks, a lot-focused security firm.[15]
In January 2019, Xie was a discussion leader for the Centre for Cybersecurity’s cyber workforce session at Davos’ World Economic Forum (WEF) summit.[16] In February 2020, Ken Xie spoke at the RSA conference in San Francisco about the importance of SD-WAN, edge computing, and automation.[17]
Xie is a founding member and a member of the board of board of directors of the Cyber Threat Alliance.[18][19] In September 2020, Xie joined the Forbes 400 list.[20]
Personal life
Xie is married and lives in Los Altos Hills, California.[1] He is the father of Jaime Xie, a fashion influencer and star on the Netflix reality TV series Bling Empire.[21]
References
- "Forbes profile: Ken Xie". Forbes. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- Taulli, Tom (6 February 2012). "The Man Who Made Two Multibillion-Dollar Companies". Forbes. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
- Villano, Matt (15 October 2004). "Ken Xie". CRN. Archived from the original on 5 January 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
- "Faculty Member and Alumni Elected to NAS, AAAS and NAE" (PDF). Tsinghua Newsletter (23). Tsinghua University. May 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
- Stupples, Benjamin (February 7, 2019). "Silicon Cyber-Security Fortunes". Bloomberg.
- Garcia, Arturo (2017-08-20). "CEO Spotlight: Fortinet's Ken Xie". Born2Invest. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
- "Silicon Valley Brothers Build Billion Dollar Cyber-Security Fortunes". Bloomberg.com. 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- Investor's Business Daily (2019-10-17). "Reinvent Yourself And Make Billions? Fortinet CEO Shows You How". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- Woods, Dan. "Cybersecurity's Future: Powered by Hardware". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
- Gundry, Lisa K.; Kickul, Jill R. (2006-08-14). Entrepreneurship Strategy: Changing Patterns in New Venture Creation, Growth, and Reinvention. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781483316857.
- "Fortinet Acquires Security Monitoring Firm AccelOps | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- "Fortinet Acquires Endpoint Security Firm enSilo | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- "Fortinet Acquires SOAR Platform Provider CyberSponse | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- "Mr. Ken Q. Xie". National Academy of Engineering Member Listings. NAE.edu.
- "Fortinet Acquires Bradford Networks to Extend Security to the Edge | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
- "Fortinet to lead cyber security discussion at WEF annual summit". ComputerWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
- "Fortinet CEO: SD-WAN, Edge, Automation Key to Next-Gen Security - SDxCentral". SDxCentral. 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- Taylor, Harriet (2015-01-15). "Security firms forge alliance to fight growing cyber threat". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- "Cyber Threat Alliance grows to six founding members; introduces Mike Daniel as president". SC Media. 2017-02-13. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- Tognini, Giacomo. "Newcomers: These 18 Billionaires Join The Forbes 400 List In 2020". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-11-19.
- Davis, Dominic-Madori. "Inside the world of 'Bling Empire's' Jaime Xie, the tech heiress forging her own path as a fashion influencer". Business Insider. Retrieved 2021-01-28.