What is our primary use case?
In most cases, we use the solution as a firewall to access the internet. For example, we use Cisco Wireless for our clients to have access to the network and we use within the same solution the FortiGate Firewall for them to access the internet as well.
What is most valuable?
The solution offers very easy usability.
The product can scale well.
The solution is extremely reliable.
The pricing and licensing models are pretty good.
The user interface, both the web and CLI versions, are very good.
What needs improvement?
The solution overall is quite good. It works how we need it to. I can't recall seeing any features that are lacking.
We haven't had any breaches in our organization, however, I have read in journals that there have been some issues.
There may have been some bugs after an update, however, that has since been resolved. We saw a few bugs in the web field and when we ran an update it was resolved in the new version.
Some resources must be accessed via web fields. We were not able to access them at first. However, it was a simple task to fix it and that has since been resolved.
The pricing could be a bit better, especially when you consider how they have the most basic offering priced.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution since I started at my current company. I began my employment here about a year ago or so.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is quite stable. It doesn't give us issues. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash on us. It doesn't freeze. It's reliable. Fortinet has created a really reliable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We've found the scalability of the solution to be very good. If a company needs to expand on this solution, it can do so with ease.
We have between 2,000 and 3,000 users on the solution currently.
We do plan to continue to use the solution going forward. We have no plans to change anything.
How are customer service and technical support?
I've never contacted technical support. Having never dealt with them, I can't speak to their responsiveness or knowledgeability. I don't know enough about them from any kind of personal experience.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I also use Cisco wireless solutions. Our company uses both simultaneously.
How was the initial setup?
While I did not participate in the main part of the installation, I've discovered from deploying small FortiGates such as FortWiFi 60E, that it's good. It's not too complex of a process. It's pretty straightforward. It's easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We've found the pricing to be fair and the licensing model is quite good. It's a reasonable cost. It's not too expensive.
That said, I do feel they could work on the pricing policy a bit.
Right now a license to use some of the simpler features like web filtering or antivirus, you have to pay about 80% of the hardware price to have a license for a year. That's a bit too much for such basic features.
What other advice do I have?
We use a variety of Fortinet products. We are using mostly FortiGate 200E and we have some of FortiGate 100E and the FortiWiFi 60E.
We are not using the latest version of the solution at this time. We have version 6.0 and it completely meets our requirements. When we will have to update it we will do so. However, that is not so necessary right now. We will not update it until we need to.
I'd recommend the solution to other organizations. It's been a positive experience overall.
I would rate the solution at a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.