Bino Chacko - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Network Engineer at Sultan Qaboos University
Reseller
Useful for intrusion prevention mechanisms and helps us avoid unwanted traffic
Pros and Cons
  • "We use it to avoid unwanted traffic."
  • "The customization is a little bit difficult."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for intrusion prevention mechanisms. If there is any unwanted traffic, we block it. We use it to avoid unwanted traffic. Most places in Oman use FortiGate firewalls, even the government sector, private sector, and ISP providers.

What needs improvement?

The customization is a little bit difficult because we have to customize everything. Typically, we will enable everything.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for more than five years. We are using the latest version, and it is deployed on-premises only.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is stable.

Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate IPS
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate IPS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
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What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution.

How are customer service and support?

FortiGate tech support is very good because we get immediate support from them. For example, whenever we raise a ticket, we get an immediate response, and someone attends to help.

How was the initial setup?

It has an easy setup. Fortinet FortiGate IPS, by default, gives a default IPS. We can customize it so we can give the user what they need. It's a quick deployment process, we can configure the management, and it is easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It has an annual license. I don't know the specific price, but it's expensive and not a very cheap product.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. Regarding advice, the only problem is that they release many versions, similar to what Cisco does. Every two, or three months, they release new iOS versions. Sometimes, we have to upgrade, or it is not secure. Recently, we upgraded to a new version, and all the clients called us to upgrade to the new version too.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
CEO at Merit Technology Solutions (Pty) Ltd
Reseller
Top 20
Positively influenced our security operations
Pros and Cons
  • "The most significant aspect of IPS is self-explanatory as it primarily focuses on intrusion prevention, which is crucial for Fortinet's internal outbreak prevention efforts and ensuring compliance on endpoint devices."
  • "There is room for improvement in being proactive about identifying and integrating new signatures."

What is our primary use case?

We use Fortinet's intrusion prevention feature to ensure network security. This involves actively monitoring network activity for any suspicious behavior using predefined signatures and other detection methods. The goal is to proactively identify and block known threats to prevent any unauthorized or malicious activity on the network. The majority of our clients operate within the financial and retail sectors.

How has it helped my organization?

It seamlessly integrates with the existing network infrastructure, particularly from a firewall standpoint. This integration involves thorough inspection across all interfaces and segmentation layers via the firewall. IPS is utilized for both intercommunication and breakout communications, where it effectively detects and prevents outbreaks through its IP signature-checking capabilities.

It has enhanced the network security posture of our customers.

The performance and accuracy of FortiGate IPS have positively influenced security operations.

What is most valuable?

The most significant aspect of IPS is self-explanatory as it primarily focuses on intrusion prevention, which is crucial for Fortinet's internal outbreak prevention efforts and ensuring compliance on endpoint devices.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in being proactive about identifying and integrating new signatures.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with it for ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It offers excellent stability. I would rate it ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have a diverse clientele, ranging from international enterprises to several private companies.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate customer service and support eight out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. I would rate it ten out of ten.

What about the implementation team?

We haven't faced any challenges with IPS regarding its deployment or management, it is straightforward. You simply add it to the policy where you want IPS inspection applied and roll it out centrally. This process is quick and can take between minutes to a maximum of an hour, depending on the number of sites involved.

What was our ROI?

When evaluating ROI based on exposures, it's challenging to quantify. However, there are definite improvements in enhancements and proactive isolation capabilities, particularly in outbreak prevention. These improvements could potentially lead to reductions in downtime, technical service requirements, and other associated costs.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

My first recommendation for any deployment is always to enable IPS. Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Consultant
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PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Fortinet FortiGate IPS
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Fortinet FortiGate IPS. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
768,415 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Finis Ross - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Technician at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Provides great security with a user friendly UI
Pros and Cons
  • "The GUI is the most valuable feature."
  • "The initial deployment could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for our small clients, companies with less than 30 employees, and we use it to protect the security of their internal networks. I'm a senior technician and we're third-party resellers. 

What is most valuable?

I would say the GUI is the most valuable feature, it's a good interface.

What needs improvement?

The initial deployment could be minimally improved. It's fairly good right now but it could be better. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. We have two people who deal with maintenance. I deal with insulation at the customer site and we have someone who can configure remotely.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Administrator at Amrita
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Has a good set of UTM features, great bandwidth shaping mechanism, and efficient algorithms
Pros and Cons
  • "Has a very user-friendly interface and doesn't require any prior knowledge."
  • "The system can slow down when inspections are carried out."

What is our primary use case?

We manage a university and we're dependent on Fortigate to monitor everything including our research activities. All our network related services are logged by Fortigate. I'm a network administrator and we are customers of Fortinet. 

How has it helped my organization?

Fortigate has been helpful in mitigating ransomware attacks and we receive notification of threats from the cloud services. 

What is most valuable?

We've found the most valuable feature to be the very user-friendly interface. The solution doesn't require any prior knowledge and that's not the case with other firewalls. Fortigate can mitigate all attacks, it can handle a lot. It has a good set of UTM features, a good bandwidth shaping mechanism, and other features. It has efficient algorithms and it competes well with Palo Alto and TechPoint. In terms of VPNs, it has an unlimited count, better than other solutions and it's included in the package. 

What needs improvement?

We sometimes have issues when carrying out inspections because the system slows down and our clients complain about it. The only other drawback is that we have to manually insert certificates for our clients. Most social networking sites have dependencies and to completely block them requires a deep inspection profile. For protection, we need to put the certificates in for all of our clients. It's a major drawback not having it embedded in the system. I would very much like to see Forticlient's new TNA technology included with the original license for Fortigate. It currently requires an additional license which is quite costly for us as a middle-size organization. We could include it with VPN for our clients. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for 10 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This is a really stable product and one of the main reasons we've stayed with it for the past eight years. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is completely scalable, we have over 8,000 users. Almost half of those are students and the rest are teaching staff and researchers. We also have 500 people involved as part of the system support team, IT engineers, and software engineers. The solution requires maintenance and regular upgrades and we have a 9-person team for that.

How are customer service and support?

I'm happy with the technical support although we don't require it much. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial deployment took us around one month back when it was a software-based solution. We had to completely migrate all existing policies to Fortigate. We didn't use any third parties for the implementation. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We purchase a license annually and it's a little expensive. We pay extra for SA. You need a decent budget for Fortigate but once you have that, it's completely scalable. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We previously used Palo Alto and had a ransomware attack they did not detect so we switched to Fortinet. Aside from that, we preferred Fortigate because it's so user-friendly. Admin can configure all the policies easily using the graphic interface in Fortigate. Palo Alto requires a specific application for all admin aspects and some of them can only be done with command line tools. It's really tough for normal admins to do day-to-day configuration.

We also tried Salesforce but felt that we were unable to depend on it for the entire system. We've implemented it for 2,000 people but it's not as user-friendly as Fortigate and without any expertise it's difficult to use. It's mainly command-line technology. It's time-consuming and budget-wise it can't compete with Fortinet. 

What other advice do I have?

I recommend this solution for a mid-level or enterprise organization and rate it nine out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Medical Coder at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
Reliable, simple to implement, and offers good accessibility
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is stable."
  • "We'd like to have multi-factor authentication via fiber."

What is our primary use case?

We're a healthcare company and use the solution in many ways. It builds a tunnel between the customer and our office. We use it for directing applications. It clears application problems based on latency and packet loss. People working from home can connect to the VPN in a secure way as well. 

What is most valuable?

We like the accessibility it provides.

Every process we do is underwritten under Fortigate. 

When we have to access the tunnels, we can use a VPN to access applications from the customer. 

We can dig into the security and enforce security policies. Everything is controllable from the server. 

It is easy to set up. 

The solution is stable.

It's reliable.

Technical support is helpful and responsive. 

What needs improvement?

Fortigate is always innovating. I'm not sure if any improvements are needed.

We'd like to have multi-factor authentication via fiber.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution for six to seven years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. I'd rate it eight out of ten. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution scales very well if it is the cloud. If there are hare hardware pieces involved, and more users are added, we have to swap out the hardware box. 

Most SMBs are on this solution. We have 20 to 50 customers on the product.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is very good. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We have a mixed environment. We have Cisco and Fortigate. Whatever is needed is what we will use. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is easy. I'd rate the ease of setup nine out of ten. The deployment depends on how long it depends on the design and implementation needs. It might take about a month. Most of the infrastructure is static. 

Right now, we have three people who are able to handle deployment and maintenance. It does depend on what kind of network it is. 

What about the implementation team?

We handled the implementation ourselves. We are certified in Fortigate. We only depend on a vendor for the hardware part and any related warranties. We can do the configuration and building of the firewall. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I'm not sure of the exact pricing. My understanding is it is pretty pricey. I'd rate it seven out of ten. 

What other advice do I have?

We are a customer and end-user.

Fortigate is a one-stop solution for all network needs. There are many features that are embedded into the firewall. The more you use it, the more options will be revealed. It's very strong on the market.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten overall. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Network Cybersecurity Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Reseller
It protects against zero-day threats, which is critical in a constantly changing the threat landscape
Pros and Cons
  • "I like FortiGate's zero-trust capabilities and protection against zero-day threats. Zero-day threat protection is critical because we're seeing constant changes in the threat landscape. The sandboxing and web access controls are also robust."
  • "FortiGate IPS is somewhat pricey compared to other solutions. There is also room for improvement in terms of the radio signals. The FortiGate WiFi has a relatively short range. I've found there is a lag in its zero-day malware response that could be better, and FortiGate could integrate better with other brands of equipment or identity management solutions."

What is our primary use case?

I'm a reseller with clients in industries ranging from healthcare to banking and manufacturing. My customers use FortiGate IPS for network protection and segmentation. 

What is most valuable?

I like FortiGate's zero-trust capabilities and protection against zero-day threats. Zero-day threat protection is critical because we're seeing constant changes in the threat landscape. The sandboxing and web access controls are also robust. 

What needs improvement?

FortiGate IPS is somewhat pricey compared to other solutions. There is also room for improvement in terms of the radio signals. The FortiGate WiFi has a relatively short range. I've found there is a lag in its zero-day malware response that could be better, and FortiGate could integrate better with other brands of equipment or identity management solutions.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used FortiGate IPS for more than five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate FortiGate IPS nine out of 10 for stability. When we've had problems with the platform, they were mostly configuration issues, not the fault of the product itself. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate FortiGate IPS eight out of 10 for scalability, but we haven't scaled it up that much. We would have a better idea of its scalability if we used it on a bigger project. We can say with certainty that FortiGate is scalable enough for the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Most of our clients are small and medium-sized companies, but we do some smaller projects on the enterprise side, like consultation and subcontracting. 

How are customer service and support?

I rate Fortinet support eight out of 10. They're generally quite good, but sometimes the response is slower than I would like. When you're paying for support, you usually expect a response in a day or so, but it took Fortinet two or three days to address an issue once. That was the only time I got a slow response. They are usually much quicker. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

I rate FortiGate IPS eight out of 10 for ease of setup. We do on-prem and cloud deployments. It's a hybrid cloud setup where we install FortiGate on virtual machines from AWS. We can typically deploy FortiGate in a day. It might take two days if our client needs a lot of configuration work. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate FortiGate IPS two out of 10 for affordability. It's more expensive than competing solutions. It ranges between $1,000 to $7,000 depending on the model. They offer one-year or three-year licenses. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Fortinet FortiGate IPS eight out of 10. If you're already using Fortinet, I recommend staying with it. However, if you want to reduce your costs, you can consider other solutions like SonicWall, Sophos, or Palo Alto. Fortinet is an excellent cybersecurity solution, but it's expensive.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Nalin Abeyrathna - PeerSpot reviewer
Group IT Manager at Araliya Group of Companies
Real User
Reliable solution for software security and networks, but they should focus on IP-controlling functions
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a reliable solution."
  • "They should add a feature for detailed reporting."

What is our primary use case?

I am using the product for enterprise network and security purposes.

What is most valuable?

I like the tool’s capabilities of integrating security around social media, site booking, and other essential features.

What needs improvement?

They can improve in the area of creating daily, monthly, and item-wise reporting. I think they should focus on including IP-controlling functions. 

I would like for Fortinet to add a ransomware protection feature in the next release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with it for the last five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability a seven out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is highly scalable. We have around 100 users using this solution in one location. Around 60 users use it in a second location and a minimum of 40 users use the solution in a third location. These users are both on the engineering and management levels. I would rate it eight out of ten for scalability.

How are customer service and support?

They provide good technical support. I would rate it a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Initially, I worked with Palo Alto. I switched to FortiGate because it is a reliable product.

How was the initial setup?

I found the process easy. The implementation took just an hour to complete.

What about the implementation team?

I did the implementation myself. If the implementation was more difficult, I would have needed more help from Fortinet. One IT manager maintains the solution.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We pay a monthly licensing fee and there are no additional costs.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a seven out of ten. I would recommend this solution to others. However, sometimes I have some troubleshooting problems and that is why I think a seven is suitable.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
AhmedHassan4 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Application Head at Alimtiaz Investment Group
Real User
Top 20
Useful dashboard, centralized viability, and speedy support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are the dashboard and reporting which give us very good visibility."
  • "Fortinet FortiGate IPS could improve the VPN. There are times it is slow."

What is our primary use case?

We own some real estate and we're renting apartments for another company, and we provide them with services. For example, we provide internet and security. We are managing the tenant through the firewall and they have been performing very well from our side.

How has it helped my organization?

This solution is a security gateway for our environment. URL filtering and other features have helped the way our organization functions.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate IPS are the dashboard and reporting which give us very good visibility.

What needs improvement?

Fortinet FortiGate IPS could improve the VPN. There are times it is slow.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate IPS for approximately three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Fortinet FortiGate IPS are highly stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate IPS is good.

This solution is a firewall and anybody connected to the internet here, passes through the gateway. We have approximately 50 to 60 people in the building using the solution. We plan to increase the usage of the solution.

How are customer service and support?

The support from Fortinet FortiGate IPS is very responsive, and quick.

I rate the support from Fortinet FortiGate IPS a five out of five.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously used Check Point and Sophos.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate IPS is straightforward. The whole process took approximately one day.

What about the implementation team?

We use an implementor for the implementation of Fortinet FortiGate IPS.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is only a standard license cost to use the solution.

What other advice do I have?

We only need one administrator for the maintenance of the solution.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate IPS an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate IPS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Fortinet FortiGate IPS Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.