Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs Aruba Orchestrator comparison

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs. Aruba Orchestrator

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiGate

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 21.1%, up from 20.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is 7.2%, up from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba Orchestrator is 0.7%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

Featured Reviews

EhabAli

Sr. Cybersecurity Solutions Architect at BMB

Efficient, user-friendly, and affordable

In the past, NSS Labs was utilized to test files and verify the numbers and datasheets. It would be beneficial to have an organization or testing lab that can verify the numbers in our datasheets since changes are frequently made, which can be inconvenient for review. For instance, when comparing different competitors such as Forcepoint, Palo Alto, and Check Point, the throughput or numbers in the datasheet may be lower than the actual numbers. Conversely, Fortinet typically reports very high numbers, but they cannot be replicated in the real world. Therefore, it would be advantageous for them to partner with a neutral testing organization such as NSS Labs to validate these numbers, thus providing more credibility and comfort to everyone regarding the accuracy of the datasheets. For the migration, everyone has a firewall in use and I am selling Fortinet. Typically, I am replacing another firewall. Previously, there was a tool available to convert configurations from one firewall, such as Palo Alto, to Fortinet, but this tool is no longer free. If it could be made free again, it would be very beneficial. This tool shows a lot of promise and is very good. Making it free would help many companies deliver their products in a more efficient and integrated way. It would also be more valuable to include the tool with the firewall package or license instead of having to pay extra for it. Paying extra puts more pressure on small companies to deliver the firewall and complete the configuration, especially if they have hundreds or thousands of policies. It's very painful to move through these policies line by line. The stability has room for improvement. When it comes to Secure SD-WAN, everything is fine. They are going the right way. SD-WAN is very promising. They can provide the SD-WAN solution separately, but they will not take this approach because even the smallest firewall can support the features, so there is no need to have a separate service or appliance. They are following the right steps, and there is nothing to be improved. Feature-wise, I'm really satisfied with the new release, and the features they have added. For now, it's fine.

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JOHN UNAMBA

Lead Regional Engineer at Weco Systems Group

Integrated security features and robust support improve network management

The solution was installed across two branches for a financial institution. One location had a data center, and the other was a branch office. For SaaS applications, traffic broke out from EdgeConnect directly to the cloud. Applications using the data center were channeled through the MPLS link…

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Aneesh K

IT Solution Analyst II at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Provides complete internal visibility from LAN to Wi-Fi, resulting in higher stability and easier troubleshooting

Aruba has plenty of solutions showcased at this event. Perhaps they offer their firewall, which we are not currently utilizing—the LAN switching, ClearPass, and Wi-Fi. ClearPass is is still on-premises, but the switching, Wi-Fi, and security features are included. It has some capabilities, like automation intelligence, which they call AI operations. So it is helpful. Our time spent on troubleshooting will be significantly reduced with it. Another useful feature is that we can inquire about the health data from Aruba Central and receive the necessary answers. Aruba Central simplifies management. Yes, deployment will be much faster than on-premises setups, where you need many hardware gateways. With just an access point or minimal hardware, deployment will be quicker. Troubleshooting with it has also made it much more straightforward. A group of ten people should be more than sufficient to manage an extensive infrastructure. Aruba is providing better support. They are also improving their email services. They are up to market standards, so we choose to go with them. We were looking for a direct vendor, but they didn't meet our requirements. Aruba Orchestrator is meeting our current expectations and standards, so we are sticking with them. We don't have any issues because we have been with Aruba for many years. We don't mind moving from one vendor to another. We are simply transitioning from one rental type to another with Aruba. I prioritize enhancements in AI functionality over other features. There are several implementations, with AI being the primary focus. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The SD-WAN function is very developed. It has SD-WAN functionality with security features in one device. We can manage from one single console SD-WAN and the security policy."

"The base firewall features are quite valuable to us."

"Fortinet FortiGate positively provides my clients' organizations with a high return on investment."

"It performs very well."

"The features I find most useful in Fortinet FortiGate are its simplicity of utilization, which is very important, and its provision of interfaces to see the alerts and other things."

"The solution is very, very easy to use."

"Centralized monitoring, policy management, and virtualized appliances allow us to take control over our public and private infrastructure."

"This product is definitely scalable."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"We had several clients that were paying $7,500 a month for an MPLS line for one single 10 megabit circuit and we were able to take that from $7,500 a month down to $500 a month for two 10 megabits circuits that added redundancy where before they did not have redundancy and it gave them a much better throughput."

"Many features are valuable for automation, connectivity, and throughput."

"The most valuable feature is the support for asymmetric lines."

"First and foremost, it enables the customer to deploy high availability connections. This kind of solution enables them to deploy these HA connections for policies mostly automatically. It's a more automated approach than with other vendors."

"The platform is valuable for bandwidth reduction."

"Many features are valuable for automation, connectivity, and throughput."

"The solution includes features for SD-WAN and WAN such as batch conditioning and optimization."

"The file and data reduction capabilities are very good. Without it, we have a great deal of network congestion."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform pros

"The technical support services are excellent."

"The Business Intent Overlay is a great feature."

"The most valuable feature is optimization."

"The product has reduced OpEx expenditure."

"We had to deal with separate management models for Wi-Fi and switches. With Aruba Orchestrator, it's now a unified solution, making things much easier for us. We log in and manage everything from a single console. It provides complete internal visibility from LAN to Wi-Fi, resulting in higher stability and easier troubleshooting. The management process is much quicker and more streamlined."

"The most important feature is WAN optimization."

"The solution has a single pane of glass view that allows you to see everything happening in your SD-WAN world."

"Aruba Orchestrator has notably reduced enrollment setup times from several hours to within an hour if prepared and planned."

Cons

"The documentation available for Fortinet FortiGate should be improved"

"My only complaint about FortiGate is a lack of QinQ VLAN tunneling. I haven't found this feature in any Fortinet product. You can do this on all Cisco routers, including the smaller models. However, QinQ isn't available on the biggest, most expensive Fortinet units. They still don't have that. I think now we're on software version 6.0, and they still haven't found a solution for QinQ. It isn't a dealbreaker, but that's my main complaint."

"The initial setup is complex."

"It would be ideal if they had some sort of GUI interface for troubleshooting and diagnostics."

"We would like to see an upgrade to the VPN feature, we are using the VPN from outside of our office and there is a limitation to 10 connections, more connections would be suitable."

"This product could be improved with Active directory integration and better handling in IPsec and GRE Tunnels."

"We were not able to build a full-mesh VPN; however, I am not sure if this was the fault of Fortinet FortiGate."

"The solution could have licensing fees reduced in the future."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"One area for improvement is the Intel support integration."

"I would like to have a physical appliance to use with the orchestrator for managing all EdgeConnect appliances."

"Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform needs to improve integrations with other vendors."

"The support from Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect has declined since Aruba acquired them. The knowledge and speed of the agents could improve."

"The license features should improve in the solution. For example, when you purchase VMware, it starts at a low level that has some functionality. When you want to expand, the difference in the price is substantial. I purchased the lower functional version for $4,000, and now if I want to upgrade, they ask me for $80,000. This is a $76,000 difference, there's no logic, but this is VMware."

"Their WAN optimization in terms of wireless connectivity doesn't have a very good cellular capability."

"I would like to have a physical appliance to use with the orchestrator for managing all EdgeConnect appliances. Currently, it's a virtual appliance."

"I expect automation in the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform's next release."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform cons

"The initial setup is complex, depending on the overall planning for the entire environment."

"The solution lacks sufficient security features."

"They could provide essential training to understand the product functionality."

"The management menu should be simplified."

"Aruba Orchestrator should implement dynamic certificate changes for security."

"The solution can be improved by lowering the cost and making it more user-friendly for first-time users."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Each feature costs money, so it is important to study your needs."

"The support subscription for the solution is annual. You are paying for support and there are two levels of support, professional and advanced."

"The price for the Fortinet FortiGate is reasonable. Secure SD-WAN is free of charge. If you have their firewall, it's free of charge. It's very tempting."

"Licensing is usually on a three-year period."

"The price of FortiGate is average and I would say that based on the top five products available on the market, it is in the affordable range."

"We have the full license that included all of the features and support."

"The value is the capability of having multiple services with one unique license, not having the limitation per user licensing schema, like other vendors."

"It scales well if you know what to buy from a physical box standpoint. They seem to offer something for every level."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"The price of Silver Peak VX is expensive compared to competitors. There are licenses, renewals, and support that need to be paid."

"The license for Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect is paid annually."

"You typically will license the hardware and you license the software to access the hardware capabilities. The price will range anywhere from a hundred to $300 a month. There are no additional costs."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high, I rate the pricing around five to six."

"You have to negotiate when it comes to pricing and licensing."

"Compared to other solutions, I think it is a cheap product in the market."

"The licensing fees depend on the bandwidth. As an example of what we charge our customers, for 100MB without Boost, the price is approximately $2,000. That includes the licensing and the unit."

"The licensing would be cheap if we compare it with the others, like Cisco."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform pricing and cost advice

"I rate the platform’s pricing a five out of ten."

"The solution's licensing costs are yearly. It is not expensive, and I rate it around three to four out of ten."

"Aruba Orchestrator is free to use."

"I think it is quite expensive compared to other vendors in the market because it depends on what kind of features you really want to acquire in the product."

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849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

20%

Computer Software Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Which is the better NGFW: Fortinet Fortigate or Cisco Firepower?

When you compare these firewalls you can identify them with different features, advantages, practices and usage a...

What is the biggest difference between Sophos XG and FortiGate?

From my experience regarding both the Sophos and FortiGate firewalls, I personally would rather use FortiGate. I know...

What are the biggest technical differences between Sophos UTM and Fortinet FortiGate?

As a solution, Sophos UTM offers a lot of functionality, it scales well, and the stability and performance are quite ...

What do you like most about Silver Peak NX?

The tool's most valuable feature is bandwidth optimization.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Silver Peak NX?

It is an affordable product and yet still a bit expensive.

What needs improvement with Silver Peak NX?

One area for improvement is the Intel support integration. The security could also improve.

What do you like most about Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator?

The most important feature is WAN optimization.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator?

Aruba Orchestrator is free to use.

What needs improvement with Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator?

The management menu should be simplified.

Sophos XG vs Fortinet FortiGate

Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

WatchGuard Firebox vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

SonicWall TZ vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

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Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 19% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 13% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 10% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Versa Unified Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) Platform vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 6% of the time

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform Competitors

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs Aruba Orchestrator

Compared 64% of the time

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs Aruba Orchestrator

Compared 36% of the time

More Aruba Orchestrator Competitors

Product Reports

Fortinet FortiGate

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Download Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform product report

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform report

Aruba Orchestrator

Download Aruba Orchestrator product report

Also Known As

FortiGate 60b, FortiGate 60c, FortiGate 80c, FortiGate 50b, FortiGate 200b, FortiGate 110c, FortiGate, Fortinet Firewall

Silver Peak NX, Silver Peak VX, Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect

Silver Peak Unity Orchestrator, Unity Orchestrator

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate offers comprehensive network security and firewall protection across multiple locations. It effectively manages data traffic and secures environments with features like VPN, intrusion prevention, and UTM controls.

Organizations rely on Fortinet FortiGate for its robust integration with advanced security policies, ensuring significant protection for enterprises, cloud environments, and educational sectors. It facilitates network segmentation, application-level security, and authentication management, securing communication within and between locations such as branches and data centers. Its efficient SD-WAN and UTM features enable streamlined data management and enhanced threat protection capabilities. Users appreciate its centralized management, facilitating seamless operations across diverse environments.

What are the key features of Fortinet FortiGate?

VPN Capabilities: Ensure secure remote access for users and seamless site-to-site connections.
Intrusion Prevention System (IPS): Detect and prevent security threats and vulnerabilities.
Advanced Firewall: Offers robust firewalling with application control and web filtering.
SD-WAN: Optimizes application performance and enhances bandwidth management.
SSL VPN: Provides reliable and secure access for remote workers.

What benefits should users expect from Fortinet FortiGate?

High-performance Security: Delivers effective threat mitigation with high availability.
Centralized Management: Simplifies network operations with cloud-based management tools.
Detailed Analytics: Provides comprehensive insights into network activity and security threats.
Load Balancing: Ensures optimal resource distribution and traffic management.

Fortinet FortiGate is crucial in sectors like education, offering robust networks for secure data flow between campuses and facilitating remote learning. In enterprise environments, it allows efficient management of application traffic and security across multiple branches, while in the cloud, it seamlessly integrates with diverse platforms to enhance security infrastructure.

Fortinet

The EdgeConnect SD-WAN platform secures and powers a self-driving wide area network for cloud-first enterprises.

In today’s edge-to-cloud enterprise, user experience and security are not optional

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN provides a secure network foundation for Zero Trust and SASE. It includes a first-class SD-WAN paired with a next-generation firewall delivering unmatched quality of experience and advanced security.

Best-of-breed SASE with no compromise

EdgeConnect SD-WAN enables a best-of-breed SASE architecture that meets the security requirements of today’s digital organizations. It provides comprehensive SD-WAN and security services including next-generation firewall, fine-grained segmentation, IDS/IPS, and tightly integrates with many SSE (Security Service Edge) solutions.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Aruba Orchestrator has an intuitive interface that allows you to centrally define, assign, and enforce policies across the WAN. Network managers experience the highest quality of experience to:

Centrally define, assign and enforce policies based on business intent to secure and control all application traffic across the WAN.

Orchestrator dashboards provide real time visibility into SD-WAN health and performance in a single screen, monitoring traffic throughput along with loss, latency and jitter across overlays and underlays.

Maintain the highest levels of application performance by automatically assigning application and security policies across 100s or 1000s of sites, including automated orchestration with cloud security services.

Central orchestration of network functions including SD-WAN routing, firewall, segmentation, WAN optimization, application visibility and control, and automated orchestration with cloud security services.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Sample Customers

Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Vodafone, Orange, BT Group, Telstra, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CenturyLink, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, SoftBank, China Mobile, Singtel, Telus, Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, Telkom Indonesia, Telkom South Africa, Telmex, Telia Company, Telkom Kenya

Group Dekko, Kingston Technology, American Student Assistance, Ares Management, Charlotte Metro Credit Union, Colonial Savings, Community Bank, Denali Credit Union, Bed Bath & Beyond, Breweries of Cameroon, Carnival Australia, Coastal Beverages, Toshiba Electronics, Tru Blu Beverages, WAXIE Sanitary Supply, Charleston Area Medical Center, Community Health Plan, Healthcare Company, Mercy Health, Linklaters, Miles & Stockbridge, Thomson Snell & Passmore

Information Not Available

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs. Aruba Orchestrator