Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access Reviews

The primary use case of the solution is for campus environments and their offices.

The solution has improved our organization by providing a single pane of glass for managing large networks. The solution improves our operational experience.

What stands out is the effective management and enhanced security provided by the solution's function as an extension of the firewall.

I have been using the solution for one year.

I give the stability a seven out of ten because we have noticed when we hook up phones the switching of ELANs et cetera doesn't work as it should. We have a workaround but we are not pleased with having to do this at the moment. They have a different approach to this method of working. We were used to a traditional environment and transitioning to this new environment requires learning and adapting to a new way of thinking. We haven't fully invested the necessary time and resources to fully understand how Fortinet's solution works. Therefore, we may need to allocate more time and seek guidance from Fortinet to fully understand certain aspects of the solution.

I give the scalability of the solution an eight out of ten.

We currently have 200 people using the solution.

Depending if opportunities arise we will consider expanding this implementation to include remote offices and other locations.

Technical support helps resolve our issues most of the time.

The initial setup is straightforward.

I give the deployment an eight out of ten. There is only one Gate with this and that can sometimes be a limitation, making it feel unusual at times.

I estimate the deployment would take around four hours to complete the process, given that the implementation involves more than ten switches, which is larger than a typical user setup.

The implementation was completed in-house. We are FortiGate-authorized resellers and do all the implementations ourselves.

We have seen a return on investment. The solution is more cost-effective in terms of operational expenses, as it is easier to operate compared to using multiple separate switches.

The solution is expensive but overall the cost makes sense. We acquire the license for a five-year period all at once, rather than incurring yearly license costs.

I give the solution a nine out of ten.

For new users, the only way to get the experience with the solution is by simply using it. The solution is simple and intuitive.

We use Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access to test and give access. 

The tool's VLAN feature is easy to understand. It was very good. 

We had experienced downtime. I would like to see it to be improved. 

I have been working with the product for two to three years. 

Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is scalable. 

We chose the product because we worked with Fortinet's firewalls and switches and wanted to explore it hands-on. 

Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access' deployment is neither easy nor difficult. It is a normal process and can be completed in two to three hours. 

The product's pricing is good. 

I rate the solution a ten out of ten. 

We are an integration company and help clients with the integration of Fortinet FortiSwitch.

It is a cheap and secure solution. The job switching and security features are better than other solutions.

The scalability and technical support can be improved.

I have been using the solution for two years.

The solution is highly stable. I rate the stability a ten out of ten.

It is a scalable solution. The scalability of the solution depends on the hardware. We like stacking the number of switches but the solution is not owing any number, it is fixed. All our clients are enterprises. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten.

The technical support team is good but since it is not very big it does not provide immediate response on errors or technical issues. I rate the support an eight out of ten.

Positive

The initial setup is easy. The time taken for deployment depends on the number of devices, number of files, and number of switches. If they have FortiAnalyzer and the vendors are on the full solution then it can take a day, two days, or even weeks. It depends on the number of end users. Two engineers are enough for the deployment of the full solution. One person is required for maintenance like updates, troubleshooting, and problem fixing.

The pricing is cheap and only a yearly licensing cost needs to be paid.

Users can use FortiSwitch as it is a cheap, stable, scalable, and secure solution. I rate the overall solution a ten out of ten.

We use FortiSwitch in conjunction with a FortiGate Firewall, as it simplifies the configuration process. The firewall will push all the configurations via the FortiLinks to the switches, meaning that we don't need to configure them separately. This is particularly useful for customers who require the use of a FortiGate Firewall. FortiSwitch can be used to connect various endpoints, such as cameras, workstations, IoTs, WAPs, IP phones, and doors, as well as servers to the network infrastructure.

We use FortiSwitch a lot in the UAE and have not had any critical issues with the switches.

Deploying the solution is a breeze, even a novice can do it. All we need to do is use the web browser, and we can configure all our servers. The licensing is also straightforward and easy to understand. The graphical user interface is very user-friendly, so we don't need to be tech geniuses to use the solution.

I believe that stacking, a feature that is available in Huawei and Cisco, is not available in Fortinet products unless when managed by FortiGate. Adding stacking would be beneficial if Fortinet could incorporate it into their switches.

I have been using the solution for a few years.

The solution is very stable.

The solution is scalable.

We have approximately three big clients (with approx. 10,000 users) who are utilizing Fortinet switches.

When we encountered a FortiGate Firewall that had expired, our client asked for a new license. The response from their support team was incredibly fast, and we were able to get the license right away with the client present. Their support was nice.

Positive

The initial setup is easy. The solution comes with a default IP address and we only have to enter it in the web browser to connect.

Deployment was not difficult, depending on the size of the environment. For a single switch, it could take around two to three hours to complete. Overall, it was a straightforward process.

The solution is cheaper than Cisco but more expensive than Huawei.

I give the solution an eight out of ten.

Having the opportunity to use the entire Fortinet ecosystem, will make our life much simpler. As opposed to buying separate vendor products, with Fortinet we can use FortiNAC, Fortinet Access points, FortiSwitch, and FortiGate. This will save us time and effort and we can rest assured that Fortinet is always looking to provide great customer support.

We use this solution for our physical site. It is only for switches without secure access.

FortiSwitch Secure Access has a nice interface.

Personally, I don't really like this product. 

Fortinet FortiSwitch is oriented to secure, not for switching. Solutions like Cisco, Ruckus or Deeplink have more options to configure. With Fortiswitch you need to configure with the controller without many options. This means you have to deploy too many. It requires you to configure the solution, such as voice IP and then turn around the LLDP. The quality of voice is very manual.

Cisco and other vendors you can interface for a range between one and 48 ports, with Fortigate you need to do one by one. When working with 96 ports, I need to change them one by one, making it very manual to configure.

I would like Fortinet to make this product easier to configure.

I have been using Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access for one month.

Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access is stable.

The solution is easy to scale.

Fortinet's customer service is good.

Positive

The pricing for Fortinet FortiSwitch is not expensive. We have an annual contract. 

If someone is looking at this solution for switching, I would recommend it. On a scale from one to ten, I would rate it a nine.

Our primary use cases are SD-WAN, web security, and web application filtering.

The most valuable feature is the SD-WAN support.

This device is easy to use.

The reporting capabilities should be included. As it is now, this can be purchased separately but competing solutions include it free of charge with the hardware.

In the future, we would like to be able to connect a SIM card and have 3G or 4G connectively directly on the device. This would work as a backup if our primary internet goes down.

We have been using Fortinet FortiSwitch for more than ten years.

Stability-wise, this product is better than others that are on the market.

The technical support is very good. However, we do not use them often because we have our own technical team that is certified by Fortinet.

The initial setup is straightforward.

We have an in-house team that was responsible for deployment.

There are two people on the team that handle maintenance.

Licensing is billed annually and contracts are either one or three years in length.

There are additional features available that can increase the price of the license.

My advice for anybody who is considering this product is that it's a secure and stable device. After configuration, there is no cost for maintenance. It's very stable and easy to use.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

I like the VLAN setup of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access.

It would be easier if Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access could be managed via cloud, and this is something that could be improved in this product.

In the next release of this product, it would be great if they could display or show the bandwidth in a better way.

I've been using Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access for eight years, and I've used it in the past 12 months.

The stability of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is very good.

Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access has very good scalability.

I have experience contacting the technical support team of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access, and if I were to rate them with five being the highest, I'm rating them four out of five.

Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is easy to set up. It only takes minutes to deploy this product, because it is mostly boxes.

I'm using Fortinet, and I'm working mostly with FortiGate. They have a lot of programs. I also have experience with Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access.

I have experience with versions 6.4 and 7.0 of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access.

The number of users we have for this product, including the users of our customers, total to 3,000.

We're not using a licensed version of Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access. You can buy it, but that's mostly for maintenance.

I'm giving Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access a score of eight out of ten.

When our clients integrate FortiSwitches with FortiGate, they can centrally manage their whole network from FortiGate. That's why it's called Secure Access.

The versions of FortiOS that are being used right now are 6.24 and 6.4. These are the two current versions. If we're talking about the models of FortiSwitches, I usually work on 100 to 400 series.

It is very user-friendly. There is no need to use command lines to configure it or to do anything in it. You hardly use command lines, which makes it different from Cisco. In Cisco, the CLI is your best friend. 

Fortinet has the lowest TCO, so you can use its integrated components without having to buy additional licenses. They provide centralized management without needing to buy or acquire additional licenses. You have an integral or complete vision through a single pane of glass, and you can see everything from one single console without having to buy additional licenses, which is a plus. It works the same way when you add wireless. You can see everything from FortiGate.

It has a security processor, which is another plus. It does not have a standard desktop processor. It has a multi-threat security processor, and it is built by Fortinet. So, all the components that you include in a Fortinet solution are proprietary and work in an integral way. It has one single solution, whereas other brands, such as Palo Alto and Check Point, have been acquiring certain solutions, and they're not fully integrated. With Fortinet, everything is integrated. If you start building on Fortinet, everything that you expand to the local LAN or WAN is integrated. You don't have to pay for professional services and other things to do that.

Their technical information is also very good. Most of their information is based on how-to, and it can be found online, which is something my clients like.

In Fortinet, the packet reconstruction in the SD-WAN solution needs a little bit of improvement. When it comes to the Secure Access to the switches or the mix of Fortinet solution, the very small ones do not have the capability to use fiber cables. So, the small FortiGates have to work with the copper cables and cannot use fiber cables. Even though they have the capacity and throughput on all technical connectors, they don't have the interfaces, which is one of the good things with Cisco. They just add models to it. You buy the independent models, and you add them.

I have been using this solution for five years.

It is very stable.

It is very scalable. Our clients are small, medium, and large businesses. Fortinet has been traditionally more into the small and medium sizes, but in the last two years, that has changed. We can see Fortinet switches in corporates and large enterprises, including banks.

Their technical support is very good.

It is very easy. The deployment duration depends on the size of the solution. Usually, if clients already have FortiGate and it is a pure Fortinet network, it is very easy with FortiLink, which is the technology that they use. It gets a little bit more complex if we have to migrate from a non-Fortinet network to a Fortinet network and coexist with other brands. It is doable, but it gets a little bit complicated to switch from traditional networking to FortiLink and coexist with traditional networking.

When we talk about Fortinet networking, we compete a lot with Cisco on the high end, such as Cisco Meraki. The biggest benefit with Fortinet is that you can extend the security to the access point and integrate Secure Access. With other vendors, you need to acquire additional licenses, which becomes a cost issue. With Cisco Meraki, the issue is the licenses that you need to maintain.

The management part is also there. In Cisco, you need specialized technical people to support and maintain, whereas Fortinet is very easy to learn if you have basic networking knowledge.

I would 100% recommend it because you can extend the security, and you can optimize the SD-WAN or the traffic at the application level and not only at the traditional VLAN level.

I would rate Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access a nine out of ten.