Fortinet FortiGate Reviews

I used to work with Fortinet FortiGate and I am using Fortinet solutions as well. I still use Fortinet FortiGate. Everything regarding Fortinet FortiGate, I was working in a telecom operator who was a partner to Fortinet FortiGate and we were reselling Fortinet solutions to our enterprise customers. Plus, Fortinet has a lot of solutions for telecom network operators as well. So we have deployed a Fortinet solution for protecting our infrastructure as well. In my current role also, we are using Fortinet solutions as security operation center tools.

So we were using SD-WAN of Fortinet FortiGate as well and we used to sell Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN to our enterprise clients as well, and the feedback is pretty good. The box is quite good, especially on the throughput. So usually for other vendors and the market leader vendors, whenever SD-WAN is activated on the box, the throughput of the box reduces while in Fortinet FortiGate boxes, the throughput remains consistent and you can turn on and off the features as you want, and it is quite intuitive to use Fortinet FortiGate solutions.

So we use Fortinet FortiGate data center firewall and with IDPS functionality. FortiAI is the add-on on top of Fortinet FortiGate firewall. So we use those solutions which help us to protect our setup from cyber attacks and in near real time it gives a lot of visibility using machine learning and helps us remediate the incident in near real time basis.

I work with other solutions such as VMware, Cisco, and a few more SD-WAN vendors.

Fortinet FortiGate has started as a firewall solution for branch locations and protecting a smaller branch of say 50 or 100 users to start with. Then Fortinet FortiGate has enhanced their offerings and now they are offering solutions for protecting data centers, branches, head offices, cloud infrastructure and everything. So Fortinet is one of the players who is having the full bucket of solutions for protecting applications across the deployment locations, being a branch or a head office or a data center or in the cloud as well.

Regarding Fortinet FortiGate, one of the key fundamental principles they are following while creating products is affordability. Second one is a uniform software code which they use for creating products and the interoperability with the Fortinet ecosystem. So as I said, Fortinet has started as a firewall vendor and then now Fortinet is offering SD-WAN, software-defined LAN, Wi-Fi, plus a lot of solutions for protecting cloud-based deployments and applications. I understand that I am using a few of the solutions which are required for running a managed security service provider setup and security operations center. So those products are also quite promising. To summarize, one is affordability and the efficacy of solutions. Plus I understand Fortinet keeps on investing high in their R&D budget. So that's where they are able to bring a lot of innovation and they make their product quite contemporary in that sense.

Regarding the effectiveness of Fortinet unified SASE, it provides necessary uniform security policies across multiple locations, being in the cloud or in a branch location or in some data center or anywhere in the world actually. So that's where SASE plays a pretty important part and Fortinet has achieved that objective very well.

Regarding the experience with the unified agent in Fortinet unified SASE, it impacts our operations mostly positively. That helps us reduce our overhead for managing the endpoint deployment. With the agent, it is a single agent that does multiple jobs. And this agent signals very well with Fortinet FortiGate SASE deployments and the overall experience is pretty good. It is easy to deploy, easy to manage, and most effective.

Regarding the dynamic segmentation feature, it is a very fantastic feature and one has to have that feature for protecting the lateral movement of cyber threats or maybe when hackers are trying to orchestrate the larger cyber attacks. So this dynamic segmentation really helps us provide a segregation of the application landscape as well as ensuring that the cross talk between the applications does not go uncontrolled. Secondly, if any malware is deployed somewhere, it helps us protect those malware implications within a certain segment only and not span across the data center.

Regarding DDoS protection for managing data center traffic, I understand Fortinet has solutions for DDoS but I do not see those being used in the market. The market is controlled, rather dominated by two or three vendors, and I guess Fortinet is not a preferred vendor for having DDoS solutions.

I would say 8 out of 10 regarding the stability of Fortinet FortiGate. It requires a lot of bug fixing and what I understand, Fortinet is fast enough to provide bug fixes and patches, but usually I suggest Fortinet should do thorough testing of their releases and software releases and once probably they can reduce the frequency of new releases but make it stable. That's what my recommendation is.

As far as the core objective of Fortinet FortiGate is concerned, I think they are meeting the targets but I guess for rolling out new features and new updates, they are doing a bit of hurry just to cope with the market dynamics. But possibly, I understand that they are compromising on the quality of the software and stability. So over there they have to improve. Rest of the aspects, I guess they are doing pretty good. We are happy.

Regarding my experience with Fortinet FortiGate in comparison to maybe some other vendors such as CyberArk, Fortinet is in the top three and they give a lot of competition to their nearest peers in the market. But I guess Fortinet is really struggling in software-defined LAN, Wi-Fi, and FortiSwitches space. So they have to make their products more affordable in Forti-switching and Forti-WiFi space. They are not able to compete effectively with the nearest competitor HP Enterprise and HP Aruba.

Around now it's almost 18 years that I've been working specifically with Fortinet FortiGate.

Regarding technical support from Fortinet, whenever the bug has been reported or stability issues are reported, we see the support provided by Fortinet is good. But again, rather than controlling damage, I guess they should be working more towards preventing the damage rather than controlling the damage.

Regarding scalability for Fortinet FortiGate, my experience says for branch networking, the product is excellent and it supports the scalability of 2X or 3X at times. But for data centers, one has to size the components and size the solution very carefully because these components are deployed one time and remain in life for at least five to seven years. So one has to keep in mind, it is not so easy to replace the boxes. For Fortinet cloud solution, I guess they have achieved the required elastic scales. One has to only upgrade the licenses and go for a higher tier of subscription and then the scalability is achieved in a very seamless way. But for hardware products, especially in data center and head office environments, one has to carefully size the products because they are not so elastic actually. One has to size it well.

I would rate them seven.

I work with HP to some extent.

Regarding deployment process, Fortinet has a component called FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer. So these two platforms are providing many templates to automate workflows and achieve zero-touch provisioning. So that way deployment is pretty straightforward and easy.

I have deployed a lot of Fortinet solutions on AWS cloud using FortiManager's FortiAnalyzer, Manager, and FortiGate virtual appliances on the AWS Marketplace.

This is clear good ROI wherever Fortinet is used as a security product, but not in the Forti-WiFi and Forti-Switching products for sure.

It's quite affordable for Fortinet FortiGate. It's quite affordable for branch networking for sure. For core security components such as firewall, IDPS, and all those things, they are pretty affordable. That's why they won the market and are now market leaders. But some solutions, such as running SOC tools, Fortinet SIM, or Forti-WiFi and Forti-switches, they are coming on a higher side. They're more expensive than their better competitors.

We have a couple of use cases for Fortinet FortiGate. We are using it for SASE, the Secure Access Security Edge, to provide VPN services and firewall functionality. We are also using their access points as well as their firewalls and switches.

It is providing consistent security policies across multiple locations.

Fortinet Unified SASE is fantastic in my opinion. We rely heavily on it. It also provides remote access.

The solution provides consistent security policies across multiple locations.

The licensing is a little confusing and a bit too granular for Fortinet FortiGate. I would like to see a more streamlined set of options. 

The hardware is not terribly expensive, but the software license and support can be quite expensive. Some improvements could be made regarding cost considerations and complexity around their licensing.

I have had experience with Fortinet FortiGate for about three years.

Fortinet FortiGate is completely stable and rock solid. From a stability perspective, Fortinet FortiGate just works; you get it set up and it does not fall over. We have had no security-related incidents related to anything with the FortiGates. The advanced features are really good.

We are not that big, however, we have had no scalability issues whatsoever with Fortinet FortiGate. We have a redundant setup for failover, however, it has not had to fail over ever and we have not had a capacity issue. It is highly scalable.

Their support is outstanding for Fortinet FortiGate. You get through to a person. They are very quick to respond and they are extremely knowledgeable and very helpful.

We previously used Palo Alto, and the reason we switched to Fortinet FortiGate for firewalls or SD-WAN edge solutions was reputation. We felt that the product set just fit better and was more flexible.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was pretty straightforward. It gets a little complex with routing rules and ACLs and VLANs and things of that nature. However, the interface is pretty straightforward. It has a good CLI interface as well. Whenever it was a bit too complicated, we would pick up the phone and get an expert to help us through it.

Return on investment since having this product is hard to quantify as it is a sunk cost and the cost of doing business. Having this functionality in place has shown no negatives, and this solution works effectively. 

We do not have significant cost overhead to maintain it. Once you get it set up, it just works. It is a little expensive, however, you get what you pay for. Whenever we need support to bring on something that we do not understand, they help us. From a net cost overhead, it is cost avoidance from additional headache related to instability or things not working properly. 

The return on investment is more about cost avoidance and stability, resulting in lack of downtime and incidents.

The licensing could be improved as it is a little confusing and too granular for Fortinet FortiGate. I would like to see a more streamlined set of options.

We operate in the Insurtech industry. We have not integrated it with the SD-WAN features yet. 

We do not utilize Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution as we are not big enough for that. 

On a scale of one to ten, I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine.

I am focused on data center solutions, specifically implementing the FortiGate, FortiAnalyzer, and FortiProxy systems. 

Fortinet FortiGate offers several valuable features, particularly as an interface-based solution. Its design makes it easy to understand both incoming and outgoing network traffic through its interface. The log detection system is user-friendly and effective, allowing for straightforward monitoring of network activity. Additionally, the support for 802.1X and other solutions enhances its functionality. The Unified Threat Management (UTM) feature is particularly effective and beneficial for organizations. One of the best aspects of FortiGate is its adaptability within various environments.

Fortinet FortiGate is a good solution for SD-WAN in network enterprises, with LAN or two ISP solutions that can be separated, making it good for lab parallel network segregation. My experience integrating the SD-WAN capabilities includes having two ISP solutions. One is Airtel with a speed of 1 Mbps, while the other is Vodafone, which offers speeds of 60 Mbps and 40 Mbps. These traffic levels are manageable when using SD-WAN for effective traffic management. Essentially, the integrated SD-WAN on the FortiGate device is suitable for handling traffic management with these ISP solutions.

The security policies in Fortinet FortiGate are very attractive, including application, web filtering, and anti-virus, with very effective web filtering in this organization for behavioral analysis by users. 

The solution has improved my organization significantly, with impactful capabilities such as sandboxing and cloud solutions, such as XDR, MDR, and EDR.

I believe there is room for improvement in machine learning and AI in Fortinet FortiGate. I would like to see more automation regarding AI and machine learning in Fortinet FortiGate.

I have five-year experience with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

It is very stable. I would rate the stability of Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

Its scalability is very good. It's easily scalable.

We have about 15,000 users.

Their customer support is very good. I would rate the technical support for Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

Positive

The deployment of Fortinet FortiGate is easy.

The solution requires maintenance, and upgrades are very easy and impactful, providing seamless upgrade processes without critical issues.

I estimate that Fortinet FortiGate has saved us around 20% in terms of time, money, and resources.

The pricing of Fortinet FortiGate is average, not cheap or overly expensive compared to other firewall solutions in the market. It's effective and affordable for customers.

When comparing Fortinet FortiGate to other solutions like Palo Alto or Check Point, I find that Fortinet is much easier to implement. My colleagues often struggle to understand other solutions, but Fortinet is more adoptable, which is beneficial for training purposes. The training resources available at training.fortinet.com are quite helpful. I believe Fortinet stands out in terms of effective training and the quality of knowledge provided. Their documentation is particularly impactful, making the learning process more efficient. Overall, Fortinet offers a very effective and knowledgeable training experience compared to other vendors.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate a ten out of ten.

My clients use Fortinet FortiGate in the boundary and border gateway as a border firewall, positioned between the internet and the company. We also use it for VPN and IPsec VPN to connect remote office sites. Additionally, I have a use case for MES in high technology where it blocks malware in machines such as those used for producing semiconductors.

I have used Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution, specifically the FortiGuard service, which is included in every Fortinet FortiGate deployment. In the data center, we use Fortinet FortiGate to block server farms from the internal LAN due to its performance, which is higher than other products. We consistently use it in server farm environments.

The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is its SD-WAN capability, which is included and differs from other products that require an additional license.

With SD-WAN capabilities, I notice a significant impact on network performance. The E series offers good performance, double that of the D series. If a new series is released, it always performs well. For example, if my customer uses the 200D model, the new 100E model can serve as an upgrade.

My experience in integrating SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate indicates that the integration is not difficult. We simply incorporate user ID and user account, and we have not encountered other challenges.

The main benefits that my customers see from Fortinet FortiGate include low cost and the integration of switches, APs, and Fortinet FortiGate, which reduces management overhead.

I have not used the Unified SASE capabilities in Fortinet FortiGate.

I do not have the AI or ML enhanced FortiGuard with machine learning or AI.

My impression of the dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is that while some customers use it, I believe it is not granular enough. It can separate VLANs, but it cannot separate individual users. We use it with FortiSwitch or AP to expand Fortinet FortiGate ports to every switch port.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

When it comes to scalability, I find Fortinet FortiGate somewhat scalable, but not highly scalable because we usually replace it. We always buy a larger model to replace the old one. For better scalability, Check Point performs best as it offers products that allow for adding more firewalls to expand performance or bandwidth.

In assessing the performance of the hardware-assisted DDoS protection in Fortinet FortiGate, I think it does not work effectively in critical events, as DDoS protection is challenging due to the number of attackers.

In the future, I would like to see improvements with Fortinet FortiGate, especially as all firewalls emphasize AI or machine learning. I do not see significant use of AI in Fortinet FortiGate, whereas I can see how AI improves functionality in Palo Alto.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for approximately twenty years.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

When it comes to scalability, I find Fortinet FortiGate somewhat scalable, but not highly scalable because we usually replace it. We always buy a larger model to replace the old one. For better scalability, Check Point performs best as it offers products that allow for adding more firewalls to expand performance or bandwidth.

I would evaluate Fortinet's customer service and technical support teams with a rating of nine.

Positive

I mainly work with firewalls from Palo Alto Networks.

Apart from Palo Alto, I have worked with Check Point, but I used it very minimally.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is not difficult for me.

I have a business relationship with Fortinet as a reseller and system integrator.

I am aware of investment regarding ROI, but I need clarification on what type of investment you mean. The cost is the main concern of my customers, and Fortinet FortiGate offers the future we need.

I use Fortinet FortiGate primarily as a physical appliance; the VM deployment is minimal. My impression of the dynamic segmentation feature in Fortinet FortiGate is that while some customers use it, I believe it is not granular enough. It can separate VLANs, but it cannot separate individual users. We use it with FortiSwitch or AP to expand Fortinet FortiGate ports to every switch port.

Regarding stability, I have experienced performance issues with Fortinet FortiGate. Sometimes it does not work correctly in certain situations, such as DNS or URL categories, where it might block incorrectly.

In assessing the performance of the hardware-assisted DDoS protection in Fortinet FortiGate, I think it does not work effectively in critical events, as DDoS protection is challenging due to the number of attackers.

My clients use Fortinet FortiGate in the boundary and border gateway as a border firewall, positioned between the internet and the company. We also use it for VPN and IPsec VPN to connect remote office sites. Additionally, I have a use case for MES in high technology where it blocks malware in machines such as those used for producing semiconductors.

In the future, I would like to see improvements with Fortinet FortiGate, especially as all firewalls emphasize AI or machine learning. I do not see significant use of AI in Fortinet FortiGate, whereas I can see how AI improves functionality in Palo Alto.

I mainly work with firewalls from Palo Alto Networks.

Apart from Palo Alto, I have worked with Check Point, but I used it very minimally. I would rate this review with an overall score of nine.

A use case for Fortinet FortiGate includes connecting nine to ten different sites to the main Fortinet FortiGate firewall and diversifying the traffic with two-way traffic. It functions as a load balancer to balance loads between different sites.

The main benefits of Fortinet FortiGate, especially in India, are its economic value, scalability, and different sizing options. When compared to Cisco or Juniper, upgrading to a higher class involves a substantial cost increase, whereas with Fortinet FortiGate, the next class is only marginally higher.

The best feature of Fortinet FortiGate is SD-WAN. It ensures continuous connectivity by taking over during link failures, preventing any downtime for the company. One of my clients faced many problems with the primary internet provider and requested multi-path functionality. We implemented the SD-WAN facility and added another three-link WAN link, converting the normal port into SD-WAN and assigning weightage. When there is no response from the primary connection after a certain number of milliseconds, it switches to the secondary and then to the tertiary connection. The impact on network performance with the SD-WAN is very good, provided it is sized properly based on throughput. It is necessary to calculate how much data is transferring daily or per minute, then size the firewall accordingly and select a particular model.

The Fortinet FortiGate solution offers ease of use, not requiring highly skilled workers. General users with two or three experienced team members can read the manual and implement the needed configurations.

Hardware-assisted DDoS protection in Fortinet FortiGate is very easy to implement with single-click options, though care must be taken not to burden bandwidth. Certain ACL units should be used, applying rules only to interesting or exposed traffic.

Some features in Fortinet FortiGate need improvement as we discover when calling support that certain actions must be done from the command line. Not all features are available in the web UI. Features such as enabling multiple MPLS circuits can only be accomplished through the command line, so these need to be made available in the web UI.

Fortinet needs to improve customer support and documentation.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for more than 15 years.

Fortinet FortiGate is very stable, but the person procuring the firewall needs to ensure it is sized properly. If the sizing is not proper, it will create many problems.

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is very good. It has improved significantly compared to five years ago when it was not as scalable.

When we encounter struggles, they perform actions from the backend, taking control and resolving issues. This becomes a black box for us because we do not know what actions they took.

Neutral

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate is straightforward and easy. HA is the deployment model we always recommend.

While we have not calculated it specifically, we found the ROI to be good, approximately 97% to 98%.

I utilize the Fortinet FortiGate hardware and have never tried the VM version, working only with normal VPN configuration, user configuration, normal routing, and multiple WAN links. While we are using the dynamic segmentation feature, we have not tested it thoroughly enough to analyze its benefits.

People generally go with the recommendations of high-level architects. For core networks, they typically suggest Cisco or Juniper. In India, the market follows whatever the chief architect suggests without quantifying whether it is worth it.

My advice for others considering Fortinet FortiGate implementation is to focus on its ease of use. 

Based on my experience, I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

We have two deployments of Fortinet FortiGate at different sites. One is the SD-WAN, and the other is the next-generation firewall.

We secure our perimeter using Fortinet FortiGate. We are using it as a gateway device, and we have all the filters, such as the web filter, the intrusion detection and the anti-virus. We mainly use it to filter our traffic. Most importantly, it serves as our gateway device. That is how we are using it at the end of the day.

We wanted to see how Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN can help us reach out to our branch, and that was the only reason for enabling it. It pretty much works for connectivity to the branch.

It is very user-friendly compared to other products. It integrates with many other technologies out there. It does not matter what technology you have deployed within your network, it can work with that.

We have not had an issue with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall. We recently renewed the licenses for the firewall and FortiNAC, and it has been working well. I have not had any incidents or instances since the last renewal.

Application control and the web filter are the best features of Fortinet FortiGate. 

Traffic control is available, and I have been using Fortinet FortiGate to allocate bandwidth also, so it helps me manage and allocate bandwidth to my applications. On that side, that has worked for me. Most importantly, it helps to filter unwanted traffic.

Its pricing can be better. I cannot think of anything else because it pretty much satisfies our requirements. I am comfortable with this product. 

The only issue that I have is with FortiNAC. The firewall is fine, but the FortiNAC interface is a little bit too jumbled or too complicated, not as straightforward as it is on the Fortinet FortiGate firewall and FortiAnalyzer. 

I have not faced any stability issues with Fortinet FortiGate. I would give it an eight out of ten for stability.

Fortinet FortiGate is scalable. I would rate it an eight out of ten for scalability.

I raise my tickets for Fortinet FortiGate, and they are handled well. The support is pretty good. I would rate the support an eight out of ten.

Positive

In this work environment, Fortinet FortiGate was the first one we had as our firewall. We had nothing before it.

I have previously worked with Check Point and Cyberoam. Those are the only two products that I can compare with Fortinet FortiGate.

From my experience, administration is a bit complicated on the Check Point side. Most of the concepts are similar, but configuring Fortinet FortiGate is a little bit easier for me compared to Check Point. Cyberoam was resource intensive, which I have not seen in Fortinet FortiGate.

The initial setup of Fortinet FortiGate was handled by a provider to implement it, but the knowledge transfer was pretty much straightforward. It took about two weeks to deploy Fortinet FortiGate.

We are not a business-oriented organization; our primary aim is to make sure that our assets are protected. We had some issues before having this firewall, and we have not had any incidents ever since we implemented Fortinet FortiGate.

When I look around at other products, such as Sophos, Fortinet FortiGate is 20% to 30% more expensive with our current cost.

The license renewal for Fortinet FortiGate has been a little bit costly. When we are paying, we renew both the warranty and licenses for Fortinet FortiGate. That is what makes the whole thing a bit costly.

We normally purchase and renew those licenses for FortiAnalyzer, FortiNAC, and Fortinet FortiGate firewall at the same time. When I look around, I would say Fortinet FortiGate is on the higher side.

The thing that I have not experienced with it is the web application firewall. I was trying to find out from the partner whether it is something that is licensed separately. When you look at the policies, it looks it is not active.

I would recommend using Fortinet FortiGate because of its usability. I would rate it a nine out of ten.

We use Fortinet FortiGate for SD-WAN as well as the switches for renewable plants and energy sector power plants.

All the features needed to protect the digital landscape are available. The enterprise-level support is excellent, and we receive quick assistance from Fortinet FortiGate.

With the SD-WAN network, the connectivity is seamless. The dependency on bandwidth and MPLS connectivity is expensive compared to SD-WAN. Currently, there is seamless connectivity between all plants and corporate offices. The implementation is straightforward and not complex to execute.

The SD-WAN connects all sites, as we have many regional offices in different locations. The Fortinet FortiGate devices are very useful and easy to configure, and we are benefiting from their features.

In the utilities and electrical generation sector, we use various models. In IT security, we have different models, and for sites, we use 40F, 460F, and various others. While my part is limited to India, Fortinet FortiGate is used worldwide across our group.

There should be some open-source training or free training for decision makers, or some webinars should be available. These would help understand the new product line and the existing product line features. 

Additionally, it would be helpful to have comparisons between competitors such as Cisco, Juniper, and others with Fortinet FortiGate.

I have been using the solution for three years.

The system is very stable.

The system is very easy to scale.

We receive quick support from Fortinet FortiGate. When we raise a ticket, we get support via email reply promptly. The experience has been perfect, and we are satisfied with it.

The initial setup is easy. I'd rate it nine out of ten.

This is handled by my team. I am in leadership and do not handle the technical aspects directly.

While we haven't calculated specific ROI numbers, most devices are very stable and seamless. We don't typically consider money since this is an infrastructure requirement. Fortinet FortiGate support is available, annual maintenance contracts are in place, and the devices haven't failed in three years. The product quality is good, eliminating the need to reinvest in the same devices or setup.

Fortinet FortiGate has an excellent portfolio including firewalls, switches, and access points. I would recommend it to anyone. We are using FortiSwitches as part of our implementation.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate a nine out of ten.

Most of our clients are SMB. We have several support contracts, and as a way to standardize all the products and processes, we ask our clients to switch to Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall, and that's how we standardize our process. Most of our clients we support with a support contract have Fortinet FortiGate as a firewall on-premises.

It's easy to manage. The GUI is very simple, and what is very good is that every product, regardless of size, has the same interface. Most features are in every single product irrespective of the size. 

Their support's response time can be better. In the past six months, they took quite a long time to respond to the support tickets. I don't know if they are overwhelmed with too much activity, but for the last six months, the support has not been very good. Previously, it was very good.

I have dealt with Fortinet FortiGate for four or five years.

I would say that Fortinet FortiGate is stable. We have several appliances installed, but we encountered some trouble with the smaller models on three occasions, which somehow limited the inbound traffic. We had to send one in for a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA), and Fortinet sent us a new appliance, which resolved the issue. The only downside is that the replacement process takes about two to three weeks. That has been the only problem we've experienced with the smaller model.

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate is mostly with the bigger appliances. It's not quite flexible once you buy one appliance; to scale up, you have to buy a new appliance, and there's no way to upgrade the appliance. The challenge is that you don't want to oversize the appliance because that is tied to the subscription. The price of the subscription is tied with the size of the appliance, so you have to size it very precisely, considering the future growth of the company.

Their technical support is pretty good. Over the last six months, there has been a delay in response, but previously, it was very good.

Positive

The initial setup for Fortinet FortiGate is pretty straightforward.

My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Fortinet FortiGate is quite good. I don't have a public site, such as in Azure, where I can see the pricing. I always have to go through the distributor, and that could take some time to get the real price for each appliance. 

When our client has two internet connections, we do Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN configuration, and it works very well. I can't determine if there is better performance using SD-WAN, but it's much more stable. We did have some trouble with certain types of traffic that doesn't work well with SD-WAN, and we had to implement rules to stick to one of the connections, but those are exceptions. The traffic is much more fluent, but mostly it makes the connection much more stable.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.