Fortinet brings back Ajay Shirke to lead enterprise channels in India, SAARC

Shirke returns to the cybersecurity vendor after an eight-month stint at Recorded Future and will oversee Fortinet's enterprise channel strategy across the region.

Fortinet has appointed Ajay Shirke as head of channels, enterprise – India & SAARC, bringing him back to the company after an eight-month stint at threat intelligence company Recorded Future.

In his new role, Shirke will lead Fortinet's enterprise channel business across India and SAARC, with responsibility for strengthening the company's enterprise partner strategy and driving growth through its channel ecosystem.

He rejoins Fortinet after serving as head of channel & alliances – India & SAARC at Recorded Future since December 2025.

Before joining Recorded Future, Shirke spent more than three years at Fortinet as head of channels, emerging – India & SAARC, where he led the company's emerging business channel strategy across the region.

Announcing the appointment, Fortinet said Shirke brings extensive industry experience and a proven track record of building partner ecosystems.

Prior to joining Fortinet in 2022, Shirke spent four years at F5, where he held channel leadership roles, including Senior Channel Account Manager.

Expanding enterprise security portfolio

Shirke's appointment comes as Fortinet continues to expand its enterprise security portfolio across AI, secure networking and cloud-delivered security, areas where channel partners play a central role in customer adoption and deployment.

The company has recently introduced new AI capabilities to its FortiEndpoint platform, adding AI governance, data protection, endpoint risk management and secure access within a unified endpoint security offering. The updates aim to help organisations manage the growing use of AI applications while reducing the operational complexity of managing multiple security tools.

Fortinet has also continued to enhance its Unified SASE platform with new AI-driven security, autonomous operations and secure access capabilities. The company is positioning the platform to help enterprises simplify networking and security management while supporting distributed workforces and AI-driven workloads through a unified architecture.

These investments reflect Fortinet's continued focus on enterprise customers that are consolidating networking and cybersecurity platforms while strengthening AI security and governance.

For partners, the expansion of Fortinet's enterprise portfolio creates opportunities across security consulting, implementation, managed services and lifecycle support as organisations modernise their cybersecurity infrastructure.

With Shirke returning to lead the enterprise channel organisation, Fortinet is expected to continue working with partners across India and SAARC to expand the adoption of its enterprise networking and cybersecurity portfolio, supporting customers as they strengthen cyber resilience and prepare for AI-led security requirements.