I handle solutions architecture for security and systems design. I have customers who use Fortinet FortiGate.
Fortinet FortiGate VM Next-Generation Firewall
Fortinet Inc.External reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Stands out because of its functionality, longevity, and support
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
All the features of Fortinet FortiGate are good. When customers have issues, it's very easy to talk them through the interface, and when they've got any support issues and they want to figure them out themselves, it's very easy for them to contact the FortiGate support. All the knowledge bases have various information and knowledge articles to assist them in getting solutions as quickly as possible.
We use SASE, and it's a great product; I wish FortiGate had come out with it sooner because it helps significantly.
Fortinet FortiGate stands out due to its functionality and longevity. It's stable once you've completed the setup.
What needs improvement?
In Fortinet FortiGate, they've already improved many areas and built in new features. When considering what can be improved in Fortinet FortiGate, more competitive pricing is needed more than anything else. Fortinet FortiGate is a very good product, but when we look at the South African market, they just need to relook at the pricing because it's a bit pricey for some of the local government organizations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Fortinet FortiGate for the last 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability of Fortinet FortiGate rates as a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.
Our clients range from across the board.
How are customer service and support?
It's easy for customers to get assistance with the product.
I would rate their support a nine out of ten. I don't have any problems with the vendors.
How was the initial setup?
It's mostly on prem. I'm going to do data center solutions and cloud deployment.
It's very easy to do the implementations. Even training the customers on how to do their own rules and whitelists is very easy. On average, it takes me about two and a half hours with all the customization for the clients.
Fortinet FortiGate does not require any maintenance. Once it's done, the only times we do maintenance is if the customer wants something or there are updates.
I've shown them how it works with FortiSIEM, so now I can get them to actually do inspections on their infrastructures every six months, do penetration testing, and see that their environments are secure.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
When you look at certain sectors of the market, the pricing is a little high.
What other advice do I have?
We are implementing FortiGate's data center solution now because I'm starting to let local government sites work through one data center.
With FortiGate SD-WAN, the impact has been very little on the network performance because we've done certain things at night and certain things during the day, so the impact on the network is very low. In my organization, there are about three Fortinet specialists focusing on FortiGate.
I'd recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other users. Overall, I'd give Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten, with pricing being the main factor preventing a higher score.
Makes a complex area easy to understand and easy to administer
What is our primary use case?
We integrate SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate frequently. Integrating SD-WAN is very easy and almost plug and play. In many cases, it's accomplished by using the built-in features. For more advanced SD-WAN configuration, it's very well documented and described in the Fortinet documents, which helps significantly. It works flawlessly most of the time and is very easy to administer.
I haven't worked extensively with Fortinet Unified SASE yet. We will probably work more with it, but since Norway is quite a small country, we don't have the same use cases as America has, which has many branches of their customers. Our big clients are usually what the US refers to as a small business. We have many smaller locations, which have fewer security needs in a SASE way, as of yet. We are starting to see that the thinking about SASE is changing and more companies are actually starting to open up for the idea of having SASE. I still haven't actually implemented it. I've done several labs with Fortinet and workshops with them. I don't have the experience to actually say how it works because I haven't implemented it with a working customer yet.
How has it helped my organization?
I have used Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution. In some cases, we use the high-end data center Fortinet FortiGate. We currently don't utilize machine learning in our data center solutions. We have not implemented any AI capabilities in our production environments due to security concerns. We prefer to avoid using newer and potentially untested technologies in critical environments. Our focus is on maintaining security, and we believe in having a hands-on approach to fully understand the processes involved. Although we’re not using AI, we have had a lot of success with FortiGate for data centers. They are very effective, and I personally enjoy using them. One of the advantages of FortiGate for data centers is that it operates exactly the same way as a regular FortiGate. This means you don't have to relearn everything just because you’re using a higher-end product; it's extremely powerful without requiring a significant adjustment. Overall, we appreciate the ease of transitioning to these systems.
We’re not necessarily a bigger part of the development as a partner, but I feel we’re more informed and more welcomed into the process of actually building the Fortinet FortiGate features because we can easily create a feature request and they will actually take it seriously if it’s something that they see a use case for, and they will publish it. I feel we have a great say in what could be improved feature-wise. I also feel they are very attentive when we’re giving them constructive criticism and they actually take it seriously, which not all vendors are. Being that we’re a small country, it speaks volumes that they care what we say because we’re not that big of a deal in the global picture of Fortinet sales, but they still care what we mean and what we say. It’s very nice to feel that.
What is most valuable?
The best features of Fortinet FortiGate would be the throughput for the value for money in regards to throughput and security. Many companies have security, many companies have throughput, but very few have throughput and security bundled together in the same price range. It's very easy to use compared to competitors, easy to understand, and the training material is readily available and not hidden behind paywalls as much as many competitors have chosen to do. It's easier to get knowledge, easier to get understanding, and it's a wide portfolio of training material, which is easy to access, which is very good for new technicians. It's also very good for the customer if they want to get a deeper understanding of the product they are actually buying, which they often do.
What needs improvement?
There's not much to improve except getting rid of more bugs earlier in the software versions so you don't have to be one and a half years behind on software because you're afraid of bugs in the newer releases. I do understand why they have feature releases, which are the newer software releases, but when Fortinet themselves say, don't use feature releases if you don't need the features in production environments, I would really prefer to have more stable software releases, so you don't have to be scared when upgrading.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked on and off with Fortinet FortiGate for about seven years. My main focus has been Fortinet FortiGate for around four years now. It was a part of my work day earlier and now it's one of my main responsibilities to develop our Fortinet FortiGate use for customer cases in our company.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Considering the last three years, I would put Fortinet FortiGate at a seven out of ten because there have been many bugs and vulnerabilities, which forces us to do updates very hastily. I do understand that other competitors also have vulnerabilities. I just feel that Fortinet FortiGate has had many vulnerabilities in the last three years, which forces us to do unscheduled downtime for upgrades. Most of the time in large data center installations, you don’t really notice the downtime because it’s high availability, so the other one takes over. We have many customers that don’t have high availability, so it really sends a message that we are using a product that’s maybe not the most secure regarding vulnerabilities, which is unfortunate. Most customers understand it, but it’s still a nuisance to have unscheduled downtime because of a vulnerability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate rates a perfect ten out of ten. Scalability is one of the biggest upsides of it. It doesn’t create a problem if the customer wants to upscale or extend or do anything to scale the solution. Even downscaling works very well.
We're taking the large customers in Norway. In the last eight months, we had the two biggest Fortinet sales in Norway's history, so we're focusing on high-end customers.
How are customer service and support?
Most of the time, vendor support for Fortinet FortiGate rates a ten out of ten. They’re very helpful and sincere. They really try their best to help us with our problems and challenges, and they never back down from wanting to help. Sometimes it’s an eight out of ten because we sometimes get in the same cases as a competitor of ours, not a competitor of Fortinet, and they tend to say that they’re treating us equally, while we know they are not. I know they’re trying their best to be equal, but there are many levels of why it’s hard. Most of the time, it would be a ten out of ten with no issues at all.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
As a company, we've gone from only selling Fortinet FortiGate as an accessory to creating an entire department in our business dedicated to selling Fortinet products in the span of three years.
How was the initial setup?
I find that with the proper experience using Fortinet FortiGate, the deployment process is quite straightforward. However, it does take some time to become familiar with the deployment tools like FortiManager. While FortiManager is highly beneficial, mastering it requires considerable time and effort since it operates differently than FortiGate. Therefore, you need to learn a new product in order to use it effectively. Also, a lot of technicians use that as an excuse to not learn it that well and continue to use Fortinet FortiGate, which kind of eliminates the purpose of FortiManager. The skill requirements for using FortiManager are somewhat high. This perspective is based on our Norwegian segment, where most of our customers have fewer than ten Fortinet FortiGate. In many cases, they likely don't need FortiManager at all.
The initial deployment takes days. There’s tuning and everything, but the initial deployment and getting it up in production is usually completed in days. Most of the time we actually do it in one day. After hours on a weekday, we usually deploy big Fortinet FortiGate for the biggest customers. We usually finish that before the next work day. The initial setup takes days, not weeks. Completing the setup completely is a continual thing, so that’s never really done because we’re fine-tuning everything all the time. It’s not something I can put a time estimate on.
It's easy to maintain, but it does require upkeep, as all security products do. You can't just deploy and forget about it. This is especially true for security systems, since new vulnerabilities and methods of exploitation arise every day. However, this is not unique to Fortinet; it's a reality across the entire industry. Keeping that in mind, maintaining a Fortinet FortiGate is still quite straightforward, and there are no significant issues in doing so.
What about the implementation team?
Implementation is usually done internally with highly trained staff in our department dedicated to Fortinet FortiGate, without extensive use of external consultants.
We're starting a new division, a group of FortiGate and Fortinet specialists. Right now, I'm focused on creating and launching this group. Currently, we have ten experts on board, with four or five who are very familiar with the product. I would categorize five to six of them as high-level experts. The remaining team members are also knowledgeable; they may not all be classified as experts by Fortinet, but I consider them to be. These individuals are well-versed in FortiGate and are capable of handling complete installations for large customers independently. I would estimate that there are about seven of them with this level of expertise.
What was our ROI?
I don't have many insights on numbers, but we’ve gone from only selling Fortinet FortiGate as an accessory to creating an entire department in our business dedicated to selling Fortinet products in the span of three years. That’s very quick in our business, which signals it’s a very good return on investment. We have a very big focus internally on getting more people on board with Fortinet, even moving people from other vendors to Fortinet to create a better understanding of the entire Fortinet portfolio to be able to take those cases because we see the customers really want Fortinet FortiGate and we want to deliver it. That’s one of the main focuses we have now, getting more people on board.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are levels to it, but the newer FortiGate models offer a very good value for money. It's not too cheap but also not too expensive. I find it to be fairly priced and almost the standard of what the competitors should offer as well.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Regarding how I compare Fortinet FortiGate to other solutions on the market or other vendors, I feel we’re not necessarily a bigger part of the development as a partner, but I feel we’re more informed and more welcomed into the process of actually building the Fortinet FortiGate features because we can easily create a feature request and they will actually take it seriously if it’s something that they see a use case for, and they will publish it.
What other advice do I have?
I would absolutely recommend Fortinet FortiGate. It makes a complex area easy to understand and easy to administer. It’s a very complex world protecting from the scary outside internet, but Fortinet FortiGate makes it very easy and they do have easy to use guidance built into the Fortinet FortiGate itself that helps you make good choices. You can also use the built-in features to scan your deployment to see if anything is done out of the norm. If you’ve misclicked something and done anything wrong, you would get a message if you just use the tools in the gate. It’s a quick and easy way to deal with something very complex.
My overall rating for Fortinet FortiGate would be a nine out of ten.
Improves network security with traffic analysis and managed access
What is our primary use case?
The main use cases for Fortinet FortiGate usually include security to filter traffic to inside the network, load balancing and QoS for the user side, as well as Zero Trust Network Access, allowing users outside and inside the network fabric to connect to our application that is under the firewall.
What is most valuable?
The most useful features in Fortinet FortiGate are the security features, where we can analyze what kind of traffic is inside our network, and we also utilize ZTNA for limiting and managing our network access.
What needs improvement?
The issue with Fortinet FortiGate is the many security CVEs around; I have read there are probably multiple critical CVEs above 9.0 in Fortinet FortiGate products. There appear to be fewer issues with other brands such as Palo Alto or Check Point, but especially with Fortinet FortiGate, there are many vulnerabilities that can be found. The way we manage this is by applying updates whenever new ones are available, but the high critical CVEs generate concern, as we buy security products for our safety and when we find that attackers can easily breach them, it makes us question the safety of the product itself.
I hope we can deploy the product in an active-active configuration since we currently have two units in an active and passive setup. There are limitations when trying to install it with active-active, but we hope to run it that way.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability wise, Fortinet FortiGate is quite good; we rarely have issues with stability, and compared to the previous solution we had, which was much worse, Fortinet FortiGate has had no issues so far.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is not very scalable. We use the appliance, and once we are out of capacity, we have to buy a new one, as there is no way through scalability. I would rate scalability as a seven out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I rarely use customer support, but there are a few cases where I tried to reach out before, and it was handled and closed properly, so I had no issues. I would rate the support as nine, based on my experience.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The previous solution we used was Sophos. Sophos had stability problems.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is not complex. It's quite straightforward.
What was our ROI?
The return on investment after implementing Fortinet FortiGate has been quite okay, allowing us to get the value of what we paid for.
The benefit is more like we are buying insurance. All of the security products may be optional, but having them helps us feel safer and assures us that our network is protected from attackers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's affordable. We usually pay about 10K USD annually for the license on a yearly basis.
What other advice do I have?
We have experience with integrating SD-WAN capabilities in Fortinet FortiGate. It is only useful if we have multiple internet operators; if we use a one-to-one connection, there are no benefits. Some of our sites do have multiple internet access, allowing us to use SD-WAN to manage the connection, making it easier to treat it as a single connection while SD-WAN helps manage and load balance between those two.
We do not use Fortinet Unified SASE now, but we are considering implementing it. In the data center, we actually have another solution, but Fortinet FortiGate is used only for our customer-facing side.
My advice to those planning to use Fortinet FortiGate is to check for updates often. We had several issues before due to the firmware we used, but after upgrading to the 7.4 firmware, a lot of issues were resolved just by applying the update regularly. Actually, compared to other firewalls, it is on the very affordable side.
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.
Optimal firewall management enhances ease of operation and integration
What is our primary use case?
My use cases for Fortinet FortiGate mostly involve perimeter-based security and fire-walling.
What is most valuable?
I find that Fortinet FortiGate is pretty easy to use and integrated, offering many features in one box at a decent price compared to other enterprise vendors. When I first used it as a one-for-one replacement, the functionality was basically the same, but the ease of use compared to the old solution increased, so I definitely saw benefits immediately.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiGate could improve by enhancing FortiManager, which is the centralized management system. It has many inconsistencies and errors with respect to pushing policies, especially when we have a large network team that needs to push different rules. Improving the consistency and allowing proper stability with many users managing hundreds of firewalls would be beneficial. Regarding cloud deployment in public cloud, it is less flexible and scalable, and customers need to provide and take care of resiliency, scalability, and redundancy. This could be a future improvement for Fortinet FortiGate to better adhere to cloud philosophies.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability and performance of Fortinet FortiGate have been good, as it has been running at the company for quite a few years since we first implemented it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Regarding scalability, we have hundreds of physical appliances deployed, which are running adequately. However, in cloud deployment such as public cloud, it is less flexible and scalable. Customers need to provide and take care of resiliency, scalability, and redundancy, which could be a future improvement for Fortinet FortiGate to better adhere to cloud philosophies.
How are customer service and support?
I have contacted technical support regarding FortiSwitch integration issues with Fortinet FortiGate. They are good at responding, though I don't need to call support often. For myself, the experience has been good. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give Fortinet FortiGate's support an eight. I did have some minor issues with the person I talked to, but overall, they were able to resolve the issue.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used alternatives to Fortinet FortiGate.
How was the initial setup?
For someone with a network background deploying Fortinet FortiGate for the first time, the switch is very easy and the UI is easy to navigate. However, their CLI is very difficult to learn, though changes and configurations in the UI are very understandable.
What about the implementation team?
For the deployment of Fortinet FortiGate, it depends on the project, but for smaller or even bigger deployments, one person can easily handle it, excluding data center rack installation.
What was our ROI?
Fortinet FortiGate requires maintenance, including updates and firmware updates to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. Overall, it runs fine, but it has security vulnerabilities with respect to some features that may have affected its reputation. Keeping up to date is a normal part of having any product vendor, and their upgrade process has been smooth.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't necessarily know directly about their pricing, but Fortinet tends to be lower than Cisco based on the separate projects I've been involved with. In general, Fortinet FortiGate has very competitive pricing.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Cisco Firepower is one alternative to Fortinet FortiGate. Comparing both, ease of use is a major difference. Cisco Firepower's ease of use is very poor, with many bugs and issues that made it non-functional - some things break and pushing policies is very slow.
What other advice do I have?
Previously, I was a customer of Fortinet, but now I am also a reseller partner. I rate Fortinet FortiGate 8 out of 10.
We have managed functionalities quickly and easily and see potential for improvement with AI integration
What is our primary use case?
We use Fortinet FortiGate as edge protection for the customer site. Right now, we are trying FortiNAC before deploying it for our customer. We link Fortinet FortiGate Firewall to our SIEM solution. We have a cybersecurity department, and we aggregate all the logs of the firewall, the proxy, the PC, virtual machine, and other systems.
What is most valuable?
The interest of the Fortinet FortiGate appliance is the ability to manage quickly and easily the different functionalities. It's easier to use rather than Palo Alto, for example. AI should be a good improvement. The only difficulty that I have today with the Fortinet FortiGate is that on the Forti appliance, there are many functionalities.
What needs improvement?
As we are trying FortiNAC right now, there is some improvement needed on the product. For the rest, perhaps having more packages would be beneficial. We do not use FortiManager for our own usage. We have developed some scripts using Ansible and we automate everything.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using the solution for more than 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The question concerns failures on the appliance or security breaches.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Not all functionalities are scalable.
How are customer service and support?
The access to the support is good. When specific information or professional services support is needed, the professional services are very expensive.
How would you rate customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
Most of the time we are implementing the UTP service.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation is handled by my team. They are involved in the deployment for the customer and use it day by day. We have three people dedicated to the security part on the Fortinet FortiGate and roughly eight people working on it in the security team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost reduction potential exists but is difficult to quantify.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Fortinet is increasing its value in this area. It's easier to use compared to Palo Alto.
What other advice do I have?
The functionality is acceptable but nothing really impressive. For some customers, we are using Fortinet FortiGate, FortiNAC, FortiAnalyzer. FortiMonitor is used for one customer. For FortiMonitor it's FortiAnalyzer. We don't use FortiAnalyzer on AWS. For both, we need the approval of the head office.
On a scale of 1-10, I would rate this solution between seven and eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Offers comprehensive features for outbound traffic management and high availability at reasonable cost
What is our primary use case?
Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features. Some firewalls do not provide many features, but Fortinet FortiGate provides them at a reasonable price. Their pricing has been increasing over time. We can have a low-cost solution with all integration supported, providing a full package cost-effective manager. The solution offers SD-WAN capability, web filtering, application filtering, WAF, and authentication features. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic. They implement it in high availability mode on their data center side and at the perimeter level.
What is most valuable?
Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features that other firewalls do not offer. The solution offers these features at a reasonable price, though prices have been increasing over time. They provide a low-cost product with all integration supported, offering a full package cost-effective manager. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic.
What needs improvement?
When they release security updates, functionality needs to be cross-checked thoroughly. The firmware updates and patch updates for particular issues can affect other features. Patch testing should be more comprehensive before deployment. The solution could be improved compared to higher-end products in the Fortinet FortiGate line.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using FortiGate for more than 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For stability, Fortinet FortiGate scores eight out of ten with mature versions. However, when dealing with vulnerabilities and security updates, performance can be affected at the application level and other functionalities. With mature OS versions, the stability rating remains above eight, but during vulnerability and security issues, the rating drops to six or seven. This sometimes requires seeking alternative solutions rather than patching.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service is good. They can easily identify issues and provide solutions efficiently when dealing with bugs.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously worked with Aruba Instant.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy to implement.
What about the implementation team?
Implementation was done through an implementer.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
FortiGuard is included in the setup. When deploying Fortinet FortiGate, it is recommended to check which functionalities are required and enable only those needed. This approach ensures optimal performance from the Fortinet FortiGate firewall.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
There are other providers available such as Sophos that provide similar features at a lower cost. However, for stability, Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features in a cost-effective manner.
What other advice do I have?
The solution is primarily used for data center solutions, specifically for NGFW and authentication. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic. The SD-WAN features are commonly used for connectivity, and the bandwidth and ISP connectivity performance is good. There have been no issues with VPN connectivity for site-to-site connections. Multiple load balancing mechanisms show good performance. On a scale of 1-10, this solution receives a rating of 8.
Has simplified connectivity and configuration management across multiple sites
What is our primary use case?
The main work for Fortinet FortiGate is the SD WAN solution. They have a good SD WAN solution with the FortiAnalyzer and FortiManager. The company has more than one site, forty-five sites, so we need to connect it altogether.
What is most valuable?
The main feature in Fortinet FortiGate is the SD WAN functionality. Based on my experience, it was very easy to integrate Fortinet FortiGate with SD WAN. The benefits Fortinet FortiGate provides include easy connectivity, user-friendliness, scalability, and easy configuration management.
What needs improvement?
I believe Fortinet can make Fortinet FortiGate better with reduced costs, free certification, and improved security.
For how long have I used the solution?
My experience with Fortinet FortiGate is approximately five to six months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate as eight because there are other solutions that are more secure and more capable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
When talking about scalability for Fortinet FortiGate, I would rate it as nine or higher.
How are customer service and support?
We have not needed technical support from Fortinet until now.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We moved to another vendor. We first moved to Cisco firewall, and then about six months ago, we moved to Fortinet FortiGate.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate was simple. We worked with another vendor, and it was easy to configure and migrate with our current infrastructure.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented through a vendor, through a third party.
What was our ROI?
There is a feature inside Fortinet FortiGate for AI and ML.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The Sophos XG was only for one branch. We mainly have a HQ Cisco Firepower FMC. I believe Fortinet FortiGate is easier.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
There is a feature inside Fortinet FortiGate for AI and ML.
What other advice do I have?
It is acceptable for my feedback about Fortinet FortiGate on PeerSpot to be with my personal name as a personal opinion without contact details or company name.
I am interested in being a reference for the vendor for Fortinet FortiGate, and it would be fine if the vendor contacts me with questions about my review.
In the future, I might have colleagues who can provide reviews about Fortinet FortiGate.
We plan to work with Fortinet Unified Sassy. I can recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other users.
I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten overall.
Effective centralized management and tech support increase operational efficiency
What is our primary use case?
I currently work in the automotive industry, providing software for automotive dealers, and we only use Fortinet FortiGate for corporate purposes.
What is most valuable?
One of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate is how effectively the software is written; the virtual network interfaces significantly outperform Cisco in my project. I didn't need separate switches or load balancers because I was able to resolve internal FQDNs of the load balancers, which was impressive. The centralized management allowed us to manage 50 devices effectively, which I found better than Cisco.
What needs improvement?
During a recent upgrade from old devices to the latest ones, corporate IT faced challenges as there was no straightforward migration process, requiring many manual steps. I've completed upgrades with Cisco before where the process was simple, but this time it wasn't the case for corporate IT. I also heard that SSL-based VPN will be discontinued, which could be concerning.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used Fortinet FortiGate for several years; initially, I brought FortiGate to my previous company during a project.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Integrating SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward, with minimal complexity involved.
How are customer service and support?
My experience with Fortinet FortiGate support has been excellent, as I was fortunate to have an office in Vancouver where Fortinet had staff. We worked closely with tech personnel through the project. While I usually don't give perfect scores, the support was great. However, one area for improvement is that many functions can only be accessed via CLI, which has discrepancies between the web interface and direct connection.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I pushed corporate IT to replace SonicWall with Fortinet FortiGate, and now in my current company, we have FortiGate that we recently upgraded to the latest models.
What other advice do I have?
Managing Fortinet FortiGate involves three corporate IT personnel, and although it initially took them quite a while to handle some tasks, I provided scripts that allowed them to work much quicker. What took them a day or two is now a job of just 10 to 15 minutes. Scripting and utilizing Git repositories would make things smoother, and I intended to publish modules for Terraform but haven't had the time yet.
Overall, I would rate Fortinet FortiGate around an eight, as there is always room for improvement.
Offers granular application control and cost efficiency
What is our primary use case?
It is a next-generation firewall used to create policies to allow and deny any traffic. I have used Fortinet FortiGate in the finance sector previously, and we are now using it in the manufacturing side.
What is most valuable?
In my opinion, some of the best features of Fortinet FortiGate include its ability to block specific applications. For example, if I want to block someone from using Facebook videos, I can disable or use its application control features to block access. Facebook has many components such as video features, chat features, and VoIP calling features, and I can block any of these features to be more granular.
SD-WAN is an excellent feature where you can route the traffic to other WAN links without manual interruption. Technically, you cannot put two default routes on any firewall, but SD-WAN is a feature we can use to divert our traffic from one ISP to another. The impact of SD-WAN on the network performance has been significant. Previously, when we didn't have Fortinet FortiGate, we had Cisco routers where we used manual routing, and if one of the primary links was down, we had to do manual routing. With Fortinet FortiGate, it's much easier as we don't have to do anything; it's already configured, and if something happens, our configuration automatically changes the link and diverts the traffic when one of the links is down.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiGate can be improved by being more stable because when we look for logs or open a case, we always find a bug and then we have to upgrade it. However, since it's a cost-effective solution, we are satisfied.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have more than 10 years of experience with Fortinet FortiGate.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is stable, but it has some bugs, so you have to upgrade it. I would not say it has all the capabilities, but it's good for a manufacturing site.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Fortinet FortiGate is pretty scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate's support at a seven out of ten because whenever I open a case with their support, I have to explain everything and clarify the background. They take some time—at least a day—to see what's happening with the firewall. The agents aren't much experienced in providing solutions, but it's better than Palo Alto's support, which is the worst.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Previously, we had Palo Alto firewalls which were expensive—the contracts were particularly expensive. Fortinet FortiGate is not that expensive and is more affordable when comparing pricing. Nowadays, firms usually look for cheaper models and solutions, so Fortinet FortiGates are good, but for financial sectors, Palo Alto is better.
The main differences between Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are that Palo Alto has more features and functionality compared to Fortinet FortiGate. Palo Alto can be slow, but Fortinet FortiGate is fast. With Palo Alto, we have to commit and it takes five minutes for the configuration to push, which isn't the case with Fortinet FortiGate.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward. The upgrade process is also straightforward.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's cost-effective.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten. If you are looking for a cost effective solution and want to avoid the risk, go with the Fortinet FortiGate.
Offers comprehensive security features with outstanding flexibility for network management
What is our primary use case?
For now, I have one running on a corporate network. We make use of the modules that are there such as application filtering, web filtering, IPsec VPN, Network segmentation, advanced threat protection and others.
How has it helped my organization?
We extensively use FortiGate's security features to proactively detect and mitigate threat.
Use Web Filtering to control websites accessible to users and block inappropriate or unproductive sites.
Use Application Control feature to limit the use of risky or bandwidth-intensive applications.
We use the network segmentation feature for isolating and limiting potential threats.
Use SD-WAN to optimize the use of our internet links.
IPS functionality detects and blocks malicious network activity.
What is most valuable?
The core benefit is that a lot is packed into it. There are many features packed and significant flexibility from Fortinet FortiGate in being able to do numerous things. Even features such as SD-WAN provide granularity that I'm happy about. Generally, every aspect of it being a next-generation firewall provides good value.
What needs improvement?
In terms of pricing, Fortinet needs to do more to compete effectively. We gained a lot of traction from Fortinet in Nigeria, however, the battle is currently intensifying. Companies such as Palo Alto are making a strong impact. Fortinet was able to gain more attraction than Cisco in Nigeria for the past ten years, however, going forward, I'm not sure that trajectory will be maintained if Fortinet doesn't strategize regarding pricing and partnerships.
Regarding maintaining skilled personnel for Fortinet solutions, if they can address the pricing for certification exams, that would help. Sometimes it's a barrier for people here, especially for companies to train people to get certified. We train people in many other solutions we deploy, however, for Fortinet, though we intend to do that, it would be beneficial if there were more incentives for people pursuing certifications.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using my current solution for almost two and a half years. However, I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for up to seven years now, working with Fortinet.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I am satisfied with the performance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is sufficiently scalable for my needs.
How are customer service and support?
Their technical support is very good. I'm happy with the technical support. When tickets are logged, the tracking system is excellent, and the response is fast. During the few times I raised tickets, I was satisfied with the support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have experience with Cisco and a little bit of Sophos. I found Fortinet FortiGate better than Cisco in terms of functionality being packed in one device.
The scalability for Fortinet FortiGate was unparalleled at that time. I saw Fortinet as a company that had strong strategic plans in terms of maintaining market dominance and having long-term plans to survive in the industry. This industry is very dynamic and Fortinet has been doing the right things to compete effectively.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is simple. It's far better than my experience with Cisco.
What about the implementation team?
In-house
What was our ROI?
The return on investment is satisfactory.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license doesn't currently cover Secure Access Service Edge. Even though our currency in this part of the world is becoming increasingly weak, the pricing is now expensive for us. I have tried pushing Fortinet FortiGate to some customers, however, sometimes the transactions don't conclude due to pricing issues. Fortinet FortiGate may need to give special consideration for countries where currency has depreciated significantly, such as Nigeria. This will help in the competition.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have previously worked with Cisco and Sophos and might have considered those before choosing Fortinet.
What other advice do I have?
I'm always an advocate of Fortinet FortiGate. It's natural that it's the first OEM I recommend when it comes to networking and network security infrastructure solutions.
Fortinet is my number one, especially regarding the Fortinet FortiGate. For virtual appliances and cloud security, Fortinet is still performing well. For endpoint security, other solutions appear more popular, so perhaps Fortinet should focus more on the endpoint security aspect.
I rate Fortinet FortiGate nine out of ten.