Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Riverbed are both solutions in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.3, while Riverbed is ranked #26. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 5.9% mindshare in SDW, compared to Riverbed’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 50% of Riverbed users who would recommend it.

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform and SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortinet, Cisco, Check Point Software Technologies and others in Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

January 2026

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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 February 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 13.2%, down from 19.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is 5.9%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Fortinet FortiGate	13.2%
Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform	5.9%
SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN	0.8%
Other	80.1%

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

Featured Reviews

Vasu Gala

Manager, Information Technology Operation/Presales at TechMonarch

A stable solution with an intuitive interface and quick customer service

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate, WatchGuard, Sophos, and SonicWall. I'm not as comfortable with SonicWall because of their UI and limitations. I prefer Fortinet above all other options. When it comes to configuration, I am confident in my ability to handle various tasks, including creating policies such as firewall rules, web policies, and application policies. Additionally, I can configure VPNs and implement load balancing, among other tasks. Overall, I feel much more comfortable working with Fortinet. Fortinet has made significant improvements by integrating AI with firewalls for threat analysis and prevention. In the past 2-3 years, they have launched FortiSASE and SIEM, and they also provide SOC services. Both Palo Alto and Fortinet FortiGate are excellent. While Fortinet FortiGate comes at higher prices, the functionality and support justify the cost. They promptly resolve firmware issues and inform all support providers about configuration changes.

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SatishKumar13

Deputy Manager at Savex Technologies Pvt Ltd

Reliable features and exceptional tech support enhance user experience

The Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is a fantastic solution based on my experience. The Zero-Touch Provisioning feature is one of the best features I have seen so far. While there are some aspects that need improvement on the technical side, when comparing it with other products and solutions, it performs well but still has room for enhancement.

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Jason Best

Data center network architect at Cloudwire

Analytics feature is very granular and comprehensive, although complicated to use

It's like an SD-WAN project basically. You really need to make sure that the product matches the needs of what the customer's trying to achieve and their overall strategy to meet their core business requirements. I think a certain customer made a mistake in choosing this solution because a large part of their network was Cisco and they had firewalls that were from Fortinet. I think they would have been better off and it would have been better from a CAPEX, OPEX point of view. It would've been more advantageous for them to have maybe chosen a Cisco or Fortinet solution based on their existing environment. Make sure you understand your network correctly before you try to implement any SD-WAN solution. That was one of the good lessons I learned about SD-WANs with this specific product. I wouldn't say it was a fault of the product. I would say it's more a fault of the CTO who tries to do things quickly without taking into account the existing environment or give the internal faculties the time to provide real low-level design implementation. It was more of a management mistake than from their technical team. In the next release, I would like to see things like integrated security but with local internet breakout instead of using third party solutions like NetScaler or Palo Alto. I would also like to see the integration of things like a VPN so that if you have remote sites where you might have remote workers that need to access the site from home or something, there's a VPN solution. Those are two key features and hotspots in the sort of global crisis. I would rate Riverbed a seven out of ten. I could never give any solution a 10 cause they all have good and bad points. To get any solution to a ten is pretty much impossible. If I was to rate it against others like Fortinet, I would probably give Fortinet an eight or nine. Again, I think you have to be careful because it's very subjective. I think it really depends on the type of environment, the type of customer you're deploying the SD-WAN solution for, and from which perspective you're looking at like if you an operator, if you're a large enterprise, if you're looking for a plug and play type solution. If you're looking for more of a security solution, I would go for Fortinet. It's kind of tough to say. I'd probably put the clouds a little bit ahead of the game because it does what it's supposed to do and easily. It's a little more of a plug and play type solution. Fortinet, for example, is more complex. I put it in a close second place, it's better from a security perspective. It has integration with FortiGuard. After that, I would put Riverbed in third place.

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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

"There’s something magical about the way the flavors blend together, creating a dish that is both comforting and exciting."

"Fortinet FortiGate has helped me reduce Mean Time To Respond, or MTTR, and helped my organization consolidate all of the tools in one application."

"The solution has very good threat and content filtering switches."

"We purchased Fortinet because of the pricing, its functionality, because it met our requirements, and the total cost of ownership over five years was quite reasonable. In the market, Fortinet is rated quite well."

"The solution is very easy to understand. It's not overly complex."

"Fortinet FortiGate has positively impacted my organization by allowing us to replace all the firewalls in other locations, as around 90% of our company operates on Fortinet."

"Fortinet FortiGate's most valuable features are ease of use, flexibility, and most of the configuration we can be done using the GUI. When we compare Fortinet FortiGate with other solutions the firewall policy are very easy to understand."

"The most important feature, normally for small business customers, is link load balancing."

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"The tool's most valuable feature is bandwidth optimization."

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

"The most valuable feature of Silver Peak VX is the overall performance."

"The tool is easy to configure due to the existing pre-configured templates. It is easy to manage compared to legacy systems, which takes time. We can complete a site within 30 minutes. The tool's best feature is outdoor onboarding. You need to bring the box to the site with the internet. It is a simple plug-and-play. The solution offers a zero-touch procedure."

"The best features of the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform are capacity management and network capacity management."

"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."

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

"The most valuable feature of Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect is the boost."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform pros

"The analytics is the most valuable feature because it was very granular and very comprehensive, although a little complicated to use. If you're really interested in knowing what's happening on your network, it's a very good solution. That was the .NET Profiler part of the solution."

Cons

"The central management for the FortiGate Fortinet Firewall needs improvement. They have the manager to do the essential management for both SD-WAN and for the security policy. They should also improve the SD-WAN function."

"There were situations of availability related to their switching solutions due to box errors."

"From a support perspective, I had more issues that I didn't think the person on my case handled the way I was expecting. We called them for a geolocation issue and we didn't get any proper assistance."

"They can do more tests before they release new versions because I would like to be more assured. We had some experiences where they release something new and great, but some of the old features are disabled or they don't work well, which impacts the product satisfaction. The manufacturer should be able to prove that everything works or not only that it might work. This is applicable to most of the other services, software, and hardware companies. They all should work on this. We cannot trust every new release, such as a beta release, on the first day. We wait for some comments on the forums and from other companies that we know. We always wait a few weeks before we use the updated version. They should also extend the VPN client application, especially for Linux versions. Currently, it has an application for Linux devices, but it doesn't work the way we want to connect to the VPN. They use only the old connection, not the new one. They have VPN client applications for Windows and Mac, but they can add more useful features to better manage the devices and monitor the current health of each device. Such features would be helpful for our company."

"It is somewhat expensive compared to other solutions such as Sophos."

"I believe one area that could be improved in Fortinet FortiGate is posturing, specifically for remote VPN users, as there are OS-based limitations I encountered with only Windows; adding domain restrictions for VPN access would make it more competitive and useful."

"They are doing good, but they can improve the distributor assignment. The availability of the product and the timeline of delivery are the main things. The distribution should be swift, and the distributor should not reach out to end customers directly. They should work as a distributor. There should also be one more local distributor. Currently, there is only one distributor in Pakistan, and the rest of them are in UAE. It is difficult to work with only one distributor. Sometimes, you don't get along with the same distributor, and that's why they should have one more distributor. Their licensing should also be improved. The activation or renewal of the product should be done from the date of renewal, not from the date on which the license expired."

"It should be more stable. There should be full integration within Fortinet products themselves as well as with other third-party products. Especially when you're not dealing with SIEM and the correlation of the security box, we want Fortinet to be able to share that information with as many other products as it can."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

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

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

"I guess the tool should give you a little more flexibility on what you can show on the main window, which can be an area of improvement."

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

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

"If compared with Cisco, then Aruba's pricing is very aggressive."

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

"This solution is suitable for small to medium-sized companies. If we have large-sized companies it is better to use Cisco or Palo Alto."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform cons

"The routing scalability needs improvement. We have run into a lot of limitations and also primarily from a routine perspective, things like RSPs line support. It was supportive but not really supportive."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is fine."

"Currently, we are paying about $1,500 a month for three sites."

"The tool's pricing is neither cheap nor expensive. Overall, I find it to be competitive in the market."

"Fortinet has more device options that are affordable for small businesses than Palo Alto, and its enterprise-level models are also cheaper. Palo Alto also has a separate license for VPN connections and SD-WAN, but FortiGate offers these features standard."

"While Fortinet FortiGate has a higher price point compared to Sophos XG, its user-friendly interface justifies the cost."

"It is not expensive as compared to Cisco."

"The licensing cost is at the intermediate level."

"I think that the pricing is fair."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

"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."

"The price of Silver Peak VX is reasonable but could improve."

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

"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."

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

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

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

"There is an annual license required to use Silver Peak Unity EdgeConnect."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Legal Firm

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	357
Midsize Enterprise	133
Large Enterprise	188

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	10

No data available

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...

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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...

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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 ...

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

The pricing is on the higher side compared to the competition when discussing experience with pricing, setup cost, an...

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What needs improvement with Silver Peak NX?

The room for improvement for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is pricing, as people are purchasing this product ...

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What is your primary use case for Silver Peak NX?

A typical use case for the Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is high latency connectivity, which is why I or my clien...

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Comparisons

Sophos Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Secure Firewall vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 14% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 5% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 4% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

More Fortinet FortiGate Competitors

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

Compared 26% of the time

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

Compared 13% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 5% of the time

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

Compared 5% of the time

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform Competitors

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 32% of the time

VMware VeloCloud SD-WAN vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 28% of the time

Steelhead vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 23% of the time

Barracuda CloudGen Firewall vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 17% of the time

More SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiGate

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

January 2026

Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform report

Download Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

January 2026

SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN report

Download SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN product report

Also Known As

Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall

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

SteelConnect, Riverbed SteelConnect

Overview

Fortinet FortiGate is a versatile network security tool offering features like VPN, firewall, web filtering, intrusion prevention, and scalability. It is known for its performance and integration with other Fortinet products, making it a preferred choice for robust cybersecurity.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution with strong performance and ease of configuration. It delivers unified threat management, integrating features such as dynamic routing, SD-WAN support, and centralized management. Despite its strengths, improvements in the web interface's stability, pricing structures, and reporting capabilities are needed. Users seek better integration with third-party tools and automation advancements to enhance the experience further. These enhancements, alongside improvements in bandwidth management and the reduction of licensing costs, are points of interest for users looking to capitalize on FortiGate's extensive capabilities.

What are Fortinet FortiGate's key features?

VPN: Ensures secure remote connections.
Firewall: Protects against unauthorized access.
Web Filtering: Blocks malicious sites and content.
Application Control: Manages and controls applications.
Intrusion Prevention: Detects and prevents vulnerabilities.
SSL Inspection: Enhances security by inspecting encrypted traffic.

What benefits should be considered when evaluating Fortinet FortiGate?

Affordability: Offers cost-effective security solutions.
Reliability: Known for consistent and stable performance.
Integration: Seamlessly integrates with other Fortinet products.
Comprehensive Protection: Provides broad threat protection capabilities.

Fortinet FortiGate is widely implemented across industries as a primary firewall system for securing internet gateways and safeguarding data centers. It supports businesses in achieving SD-WAN integration and enhances cybersecurity by providing essential features like antivirus, web filtering, and application control. Enterprises utilize FortiGate for securing remote connections and ensuring compliance with security standards, making it adaptable for different network sizes and industries.

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

Accelerate business velocity with enterprise-class SD-WAN. As enterprises and organizations adopt more cloud and SaaS applications to support an increasingly distributed workforce, the hybrid networks connecting it all have been more complex, less predictable and less secure.

Riverbed SteelConnect EX is a powerful enterprise SD-WAN solution that integrates best-in-class routing, application acceleration, network visibility, and security services – a flexible and complete WAN Edge platform that gives you what you need to modernize your network and propel your business in the digital age.

Riverbed

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

Roxtec, Software Solutions Company, Rignet

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

January 2026

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