Short answer
No. FortiAnalyzer Cloud is Fortinet's own service. It is typically hosted in US or EU regions and billed in US dollars. FirstNet's FortiAnalyzer as a Service (FAZaaS) is hosted in South Africa, billed in rands and run by FirstNet. So your log data stays in South Africa during normal operation.
In detail: FortiAnalyzer as a Service vs FortiAnalyzer Cloud
How the options compare:
- FAZaaS: your own dedicated FortiAnalyzer-VM (virtual machine) on FirstNet-operated infrastructure in South Africa. It is a monthly service in rands, based on a storage bundle. FirstNet handles patching, upgrades, backups and capacity monitoring.
- FortiAnalyzer Cloud: hosted offshore by Fortinet, an annual US dollar subscription, with Fortinet as the support path
- Self-hosted FortiAnalyzer-VM or appliance: you run the platform yourself under a Fortinet licence
All routes use the same FortiAnalyzer engine, so the analytics are comparable. The difference is hosting location, currency and who operates it.
This matters when you plan for POPIA. With FAZaaS, your organisation is still the responsible party, but your logs are not routinely hosted offshore. If you buy FortiAnalyzer Cloud directly, your compliance assessment must take into account data that crosses the border.
Source: FirstNet Hosted Firewall & Network Security service page →