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 6.7% mindshare in SDW, compared to Riverbed’s 0.9% 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: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions

December 2025

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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 January 2026, in the Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) Solutions category, the mindshare of Fortinet FortiGate is 13.9%, down from 20.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform is 6.7%, up from 6.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN is 0.9%, 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	13.9%
Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform	6.7%
SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN	0.9%
Other	78.5%

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

"The interest of the Fortinet FortiGate appliance is the ability to manage quickly and easily the different functionalities."

"I found the upgrades valuable."

"What's most important is the ease of use."

"The main value comes from the simplicity of the product in terms of configuring and managing."

"FortiGate Next Generation Firewall has IBS/IPS systems"

"The most valuable features of the FortiGate firewall include SSL inspection, VPN functionality, and threat intelligence features for preventing threats."

"The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is SD-WAN."

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

More Fortinet FortiGate pros

"I had to deal with them on a couple of issues, but the tool's technical support is top-notch...The product's initial setup phase is straightforward and the easiest."

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

"The most valuable features of Silver Peak VX are we can register our customers and they can receive free training and all the solutions features."

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

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

"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."

"I really love the auto-tunnel creation feature."

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 cloud features and integration could be improved."

"The solution's real-time connection with the cloud could be improved."

"The solution could be improved by addressing limited local reporting. It requires obtaining the FortiAnalyzer for proper visibility because you can't do much from a reporting perspective with just the firewall alone."

"FortiGate's reporting features could provide a better picture of what is happening in the box."

"Integrating OpenVPN with FortiGate would provide a powerful combination of secure remote access and comprehensive network security."

"The support is not good because I generally search for solutions online. When I open a case, they usually identify it as a bug they are working on."

"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."

"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."

More Fortinet FortiGate cons

"More technical sessions should be offered for deploying the solution."

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

"There are some functional limitations that could improve."

"The support, which is the direct support from Aruba, has shortcomings and needs to be improved."

"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."

"The security can be improved, with the firewall for example, because they supply a basic one but not a UTM."

"We would like to have better features for path selection. For example, if we know the network is going to go down then we would like to set up an alternate route for data packets in real-time."

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

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

"Its pricing is fine. It is on a yearly basis. Other than the licensing fee, there is no extra fee."

"Easy to understand licensing requirements."

"Fortinet FortiGate is reasonably priced."

"The price of Fortinet FortiGate is the lowest in the market."

"The price is high compared to some of the other solutions."

"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."

"The license is too expensive to renew. The license renewal process is also complex."

"The price could be lower."

More Fortinet FortiGate pricing and cost advice

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

"The pricing for this product is good."

"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."

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

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

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

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

"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."

More Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

23%

Manufacturing Company

10%

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 13% of the time

Netgate pfSense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 6% of the time

OPNsense vs Fortinet FortiGate

Compared 3% of the time

Palo Alto Networks NG Firewalls 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 24% of the time

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

Compared 14% of the time

Cato SASE Cloud Platform vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 6% of the time

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

Compared 6% of the time

Prisma SD-WAN vs Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN Platform

Compared 4% 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 31% of the time

Steelhead vs SteelConnect EX Enterprise SD-WAN

Compared 20% 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

Download Fortinet FortiGate product report

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

December 2025

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

December 2025

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