We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiWLM and Ruckus Wireless based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Wireless LAN solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The most valuable feature of Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) is the ability to troubleshoot ports on the network. Additionally, when there is an update on the APs they are able to reboot quickly reducing downtime. Other solutions have a longer downtime when updates are done."
"The solution is pretty generic and easy to use."
"The most useful feature of Juniper Wireless AP is the reporting Marvis."
"In terms of reporting, in terms of all the user reports, it's very rich."
"You can easily monitor, manage, and cover all your IT equipment."
"The solution is stable."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is Marvis, the AI-driven network management system."
"The simplicity is great."
"The most valuable features are central management and the many other features available."
"The security is a valuable feature."
"We can deploy a tunnel-based VLAN and SSID, for something that happens at the last minute, in a matter of minutes, because of the interaction between the FortiGate, the FortiSwitches, and the FortiAPs."
"If you do have a FortiGate Firewall somewhere in the network, you can connect the wireless controller to that... You get 100 percent visibility from a single point... You can see everything that's connected to the FortiGate, whether it's a switch or a wireless AP or a wireless controller or any other Fortinet product."
"Fortinet FortiWLM is good for tracking assets, monitoring, and overall management."
"Security is the feature we like most from Fortinet. In general, their security architecture is really great, because it involves everything: firewalls, wireless LANs, the user. Everything is really secure."
"Although there are a few steps, the initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"The most valuable features of this solution are its speed, reliability, and integration with the firewall."
"Tremendous throughput and easy installation, configuration, and monitoring."
"The APs themselves have been pretty solid. We haven't had too many of them go bad or anything like that. The wireless performance seems pretty good. The ability to provision the devices is pretty good, and the back end is also pretty good."
"I can manage the network through a cell phone, which is a plus from my side. I am also able to visualize the network. I can also check the quality of the signal for different clients that are currently connected and see whether the quality is excellent, moderate, or poor. Sometimes, I can even adjust the signal strength."
"The reason we picked Ruckus, in addition to our long-standing relationship with them, is pretty much that the RFS characteristics of it seem to be the best."
"It's reliable wireless equipment."
"Performance-wise, it's great."
"The most valuable feature is the coverage, which is exceptional."
"Easy to configure and user-friendly."
"Improving third-party integration is key for Juniper Mist's next release."
"Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems."
"The product should include adaptive Wi-Fi to show a more accurate location."
"Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series) could improve if the MIST platform had a built-in master key. This would be an advantage."
"Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points’ support services need improvement."
"The pricing should be made cheaper."
"If you want to do more specific stuff, it's a bit limited."
"They should include SD-WAN features to it."
"The pricing for the solution is expensive and can be improved."
"Technical support is very poor. We are not satisfied with the technical support because there is not any direct person from Fortinet for any troubleshooting, which we expected."
"The initial setup is complex and has room for improvement."
"This solution should be easier to set up in a production environment."
"Licensing is the only area that I think they are below average. They need enterprise licensing, an all-encompassing license to cover all products for a company."
"The roaming of Fortinet FortiWLM could improve when comparing it to other solutions. We are missing some of the functionality in the controller. Additionally, they should offer more logs instead of using FortiAnalyzer because all the users will not be using the same thing."
"The guest management features need to be improved by adding automation."
"There is very little publicly available information about Virtual Cell and Single Channel Architecture. Promotion of the overall technology is limited as well. Being more vocal about a product that has many advantages would go a long way to eliminating a lot of the confusion and negative perception about Virtual Cell and Single Channel Architecture."
"The interface should be mobile friendly."
"If the system could directly download and update, that would be much easier. It could be more automated."
"The solution currently lacks the integration of security services."
"I would like to see newer on-premises controller-type models, similar to the 3000."
"The solution is sensitive with reference to power fluctuations. This sensitivity should be improved. Additionally, the solution should have more security features integrated."
"In the last year, there's been a significant price jump, but I think Ruckus Wireless is still a good value for the money."
"I think it would be nice if Ruckus offered the option of a cloud interface for easy configuration of Ruckus Wireless."
"The pricing is okay, however, it could be a bit lower."
More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →
Fortinet FortiWLM is ranked 15th in Wireless LAN with 22 reviews while Ruckus Wireless is ranked 3rd in Wireless LAN with 96 reviews. Fortinet FortiWLM is rated 8.2, while Ruckus Wireless is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiWLM writes "Impressive manufacturing quality, highly durable, and very easy to deploy". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Ruckus Wireless writes "Great wireless, good reliability, and excellent connectivity". Fortinet FortiWLM is most compared with Aruba Wireless, Cisco Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, Ubiquiti Wireless and Omada Access Points, whereas Ruckus Wireless is most compared with Aruba Wireless, Cisco Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, Ubiquiti WLAN and Huawei Wireless. See our Fortinet FortiWLM vs. Ruckus Wireless report.
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All are good selections, and this question is difficult to answer without knowing your throughput requirements, as each vendor has multiple models within there series.
Personally I recommend looking at Arista Networks’ cognitive Wifi, where controllers are a thing of the past.
Ruckus virtual smart zone will be your best bet allowing up to 300k connected devices and 30k access points. furthermore, Ruckus has time and again proven best in speed, throughput in high density environments by independent studies. I have over a decade of working with this product and none of the other competitors can beat the layer 1 connectivity of Ruckus WiFi
Hi,
Every one of the mentioned solutions is good but you need to check the needs which are security since the firms you are working with need protection and tracking of data. For this reason, I recommend:
- if you have FortiGate installed then go for Fortinet Wireless since they can be integrated with the Fortigate without buying a controller and they work perfectly together and you will get the advantage of applying rules to the client himself whether mobile or computer, easily managed & monitored, more visibility over your network and incident notifications.
If the above doesn't apply then you can go with the best one that fits your budget and security needs which for me doesn't fall on the mentioned solution but to go with ARUBA Instant Access Wireless Solution and the reasons are as such:
- Cisco is too much expensive and you got to pay smart support with some complexity in configuration and you need to buy a controller
- Ruckus is good but when you want to have the security you need to buy a controller with licenses and it won't give you the security needed since it is just a wireless solution
- Huawei is not a stable company since it had many ups and downs and they can reach with you to have all the solutions nearly free so that you install their brand.
Whereas Aruba you don't need a controller in the Instant access points and you will get the minimum security with radius integration and what is important a lifetime warranty on the access points.
In addition, if the number of access points increased and you want more detailed management and more advanced configurations, you can buy a controller either on-premises or on-cloud with Aruba.
The above information is based on my experience with all the solutions and their POC.
If you need any more details and consultancy, kindly feel free to contact me.
Regards.
Hi Imad,
Thanks for your input. Do you have any POC data for Cisco and Aruba?
Thanks in advance
Boa tarde
As soluções cada solução que você indicou tem pormenores que podem impactar tanto no funcionamento quanto em caso de disaster recovery.
Fortinet: Possui bons access points, aliado às funcionalidades de segurança do próprio UTM, porém será mais um serviço para o appliance gerenciar, e dependendo do que está rodando nele, corre-se o risco de degradar a performance da funcionalidade principal "segurança", por que tambem está gerenciando uma rede wireless, além do fato se houver alguma pane no appliance Fortinet, tanto os itens de segurança quanto a rede wireless irão ficar indisponível. Dê a Cézar o que é de Cézar, deixe a fortinet focada em segurança, que é o que ela faz de melhor.
Ruckus: Excelentes Access points, confiáveis e com alta performance, possui no mínimo 4 opções de gerência, sendo, controlerless Unleashed, appliance virtual, appliance hardware e cloud, ambas as opções não trará prejuizo à performance da rede wireless, porque não há tunelamento de dados para elas, além de possuir várias funções de segurança inerentes à rede wireless. licenças são perpétuas.
Cisco: Excelente access points, porém solução muito cara para aquisição e renovação.
Huawei: Pelo que conheço, tem bons access points, e controladoras virtuais e appliance físico, mas conheço poucas redes com esta solução.
É lógico que uma tem um recurso extra a mais do que a outra, mas considero mera perfumaria, pois o básico para uma rede wireless segura todas atendem.
Eu já atendi a mais de 40 universidades federais no Brasil, todas com Ruckus, e não há reclamação da solução.
Como recomendação pessoal, vá de Ruckus.
Hi,
It is all dependent on the size of the controllers in question. Though I would suggest getting a cloud base technology so you are limited by any controller and have much better redundancy. Take a look at Arista Cognitive Wireless