Our primary deployment of FortiGate 3401E (v7.2.11-17.40) is as the perimeter and east-west firewall for four geographically distributed data centers, each secured with an HA-paired cluster. We handle over 500 Gbps of mixed Layer 3 to Layer 7 traffic across our data centers, where FortiGate 3401E appliances perform deep-packet inspection, SSL/TLS termination, and real-time application control to secure critical services.FortiGate enforces blacklists for unwanted apps and CVE-based signatures, isolates services via VDOMs (enterprise, core, billing, WAF), and automatically blocks zero-day threats using FortiGuard IPS feeds

Since deploying FortiGate 3401E clusters, we have observed:

Dramatic Reduction in Risk Exposure. Blocked peer-to-peer and unauthorized applications (e.g., BitTorrent) at the perimeter and east-west segments, eliminating a major source of malware and bandwidth abuse. Proactive IPS signature updates from FortiGuard closed zero-day and known-CVE gaps faster than our previous Huawei solution. Enhanced Visibility & Forensics. Full-packet captures and rich metadata logging in FortiAnalyzer enable sub-minute root-cause analysis of security events. Custom dashboards surface top-talkers and rule-hit counts, letting us fine-tune policies and prove compliance to auditors. Operational Efficiency. VDOM-based segmentation simplifies multi-tenant and multi-service management within a single chassis and no additional hardware required.

Analytics with FortiAnalyzer. Being able to pull in logs not just from our FortiGates but from all our other firewalls and then get them in one view has been a game changer. Whether I’m building an executive dashboard or doing a deep dive forensics session, I get everything I need without navigating consoles.Straightforward Application Control. FortiGate spots and blocks unwanted apps (eq. like BitTorrent or streaming services) with accuracy. Segmentation with VDOMs. We’ve carved our data center into four logical ‘mini-firewalls’ enterprise, core, billing, and WAF—all on one box. Each has its own rules and logs, and any traffic between them still gets inspected. It’s like having multiple appliances without the extra hardware. Always-Up-to-Date Threat Feeds. Daily signature updates and AI-driven threat sensing mean we’re blocking the latest vulnerabilities almost as soon as they’re announced.

The CPU spikes sometimes go up to 40 percent occur during background IPS updates, but there’s no visibility into which subsystem is responsible. Current Gap: Despite scheduling daily signature downloads, updates sometimes run outside the configured window triggering unplanned performance hits.

I have been working with Fortinet FortiGate for almost six to seven years.

six to seven years in production with only two brief downtimes
both incidents stemmed from firmware upgrade bugs and were promptly identified
infosec alerts and FortiGuard advisories guide our version choices
support response and resolution averaged four to five hours per ticket
instituted rollback validation and staging procedures to avoid repeats
outside of upgrade windows the HA clusters have delivered near-100 percent uptime

It is scalable.

For Fortinet FortiGate, I would rate their technical support a nine out of ten. Compared to other products, Fortinet FortiGate provides timely updates, even coordinating with engineers for coverage. I've worked with other products, so I recognize their strengths in terms of support.

our core perimeter and east–west inspection point was a Huawei Eudemon firewall cluster. While it handled basic stateful filtering it lacked Deep Packet Inspection Eudemon could not parse or enforce Layer-7 application contexts, leaving blind spots for evasive or nonstandard-port traffic. it also did Granular threat Intelligence, and it was limited, and updates were infrequent, delaying remediation of newly disclosed CVEs. Unified Logging and Forensics erm the Eudemon’s logging interface offered only summary-level records, forcing manual packet captures for any detailed analysis

implementation used FortiGate 3401E running firmware 7.2.11 build 17.40

partner provided detailed timelines and low-level designs that we followed step by step

grace period and dedicated engineer ensured any questions were answered immediately

cut-over executed without major issues or unplanned downtime

post-deployment support window allowed smooth transition to steady-state operations

overall process was seamless and delivered on schedule

There was involvement from a partner, although I can’t recall their name off the top of my head. I believe they were based in Nigeria. They were indeed helpful. They were great. Whenever we had an issue, we could call them at any time, and they would assist us promptly. They were genuinely helpful, no doubt about that.

I believe we purchased it through the third-party vendor they provided us with. So, the third party handled the purchase, interfacing with FortiGate, while we communicated with the vendor directly, if I remember correctly.

onboarded three times more customers without adding firewall hardware
cut network expansion capital expenses by roughly 40 percent through VDOM consolidation
reduced vulnerability remediation costs by about 60 percent thanks to automated FortiGuard updates
shortened policy-deployment time by over 50 percent, freeing up 10 plus hours of engineering effort weekly
achieved payback on the initial FortiGate investment within 9 months via increased tenancy revenue and lower OPEX

Check Point Infinity

Strengths- mature threat prevention suite, granular policy controls, strong management console

Weaknesses – high total cost of ownership, steep learning curve and management overhead at scale

Cisco Firepower

Strengths – tight integration with existing Cisco switching and routing fabric, robust SSL decryption

Weaknesses – underwhelming layer 7 DPI performance in our live 5G billing environment; fragmented logging requiring multiple consoles; protracted support cycles

Palo Alto Networks excluded from this evaluation to diversify our vendor mix and avoid single-vendor lock-in

FortiGate emerged as the best balance of performance, visibility and TCO after six months of PoC across four data centers

I like how the role-based access control with granular admin profiles reduces risk of misconfiguration in multi-team environments

automatic configuration backups and revision history simplify audit compliance and rollback in case of errors

built-in high availability health checks and session-sync ensure seamless failover during maintenance or hardware faults

Me and my team have been managing site-to-site and remote access VPNs. We have been doing centralized logging through FortiManager and applying security policies, such as web filtering and application control across distributed branch locations.

I have also handled firmware upgrades, security patching, and integrating the Fortinet FortiGate logs within SIEM tools, such as Splunk, for threat monitoring.

I have integrated SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate by configuring multiple WAN links for dynamic path selection, load balancing, and failover based on performance metrics. I have used application-aware routing to prioritize critical traffic, such as VoIP or business apps, over high-quality links, while sending less critical traffic over backup circuits. We have managed and monitored these through FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer, ensuring visibility and automated alerts if link performance degrades.

The network performance has shown a significant positive impact. By utilizing features such as dynamic path selection and application-aware routing, we've been able to reduce latency for critical applications such as VoIP and video by 20-30% during peak times. Additionally, we’ve minimized downtime through automatic failover between links. This approach has also allowed us to cut costs by routing non-critical traffic over lower-cost circuits while keeping high-priority applications on premium links.

I have used the unified SASE feature a little bit, and it is very effective because it consolidates firewall, IPS, and other features such as sandbox into a single platform. It simplifies the management since we do not have to rely on separate appliances. It also helps with faster threat detection and response, especially when paired with FortiAnalyzer and SIEM tools, such as QRadar. The logs and events are correlated automatically, which makes a significant difference.

Something that stood out for me once I started using Fortinet FortiGate was the centralized management through FortiManager and how easily I could deploy consistent policies across multiple sites. The VPN configuration was also very straightforward compared to some other platforms. The integration with SIEM tools makes monitoring and incident response much smoother, which stood out to me.

For the future, one improvement area is the complexity of SD-WAN configuration. When managing a large number of sites, the GUI is user-friendly, but when scaling deployments, it sometimes requires more manual fine-tuning or scripting.

Another concern is reporting. FortiAnalyzer is powerful, but generating customized reports can be cumbersome compared to some other tools. Additionally, seeing deeper automation and API integrations would be beneficial so that policy updates and SD-WAN changes can be pushed faster across large environments.

I have been using FortiGate for about four to five years in various settings. My experience includes working with Fortinet FortiGate and other firewalls and Panorama across multiple roles. I have been involved in designing as well as managing policies. Additionally, I have handled upgrades and migrations.

The performance and stability of Fortinet FortiGate has been strong in both small and large environments. The throughput and latencies are very good, even with multiple security features such as IPS, antivirus, or SSL inspection enabled simultaneously. I have found them to be reliable with minimum downtime. The Fortinet high availability features work effectively to ensure continuous network availability.

Scalability is quite straightforward. They can scale from small branch offices to large enterprise environments. Their model hardware options and virtual firewall instances allow flexible deployment. For larger data centers or higher complex environments, sometimes Palo Alto or Cisco solutions offer more advanced scaling options, but Fortinet FortiGate is definitely competitive for enterprise needs.

I have worked with them a bit, and we usually start by opening a support ticket through the Fortinet support portal. I also remember calling their TAC hotline directly for priority one issues, particularly for major VPN outages or SD-WAN failures.

I typically provide the necessary diagnostics upfront, such as logs, packet captures, and debug outputs, so we can move quickly towards a resolution. Most cases are resolved fairly quickly, but for more complex bugs, they may suggest fixes or recommend firmware updates. In such cases, it just takes a bit more time.

I would rate their support an eight out of ten. They are generally very responsive and knowledgeable, especially regarding firewall and VPN issues. While resolutions can take longer for complex problems or new features, overall, the support team is very helpful and proactive in providing patches and workarounds.

I have used many alternatives to Fortinet FortiGate, including Palo Alto Networks firewalls and Cisco ASA Firepower. Palo Alto has strong application visibility and threat prevention, while Cisco excels in routing and integration. I have also worked with Juniper, which is great for scalability, and Check Point. I am comfortable adapting to different firewall ecosystems depending on the environment and requirements.

It wasn't that hard. Overall, it was pretty straightforward. For smaller sites or branch offices, the GUI is intuitive and clear. FortiManager helped streamline policy pushes across multiple devices, which made it easy to manage. However, for more complex deployments that involved SD-WAN or advanced features, there was some initial complexity in fine-tuning configurations and integrating with our existing infrastructure. Despite this, it was manageable with good planning and testing. Overall, the process was relatively easy.

Maintenance is definitely a part of my role. I am responsible for applying firmware updates, security patches, and configuration backups on FortiGate devices to ensure stability and security. While Fortinet provides regular updates and technical support, the day-to-day maintenance, monitoring, and troubleshooting are handled internally by our network team.

I haven't looked into that directly, as I am not involved in the purchasing or budgeting aspects. However, I believe Fortinet offers competitive pricing compared to other enterprise firewall vendors. Their licensing model is straightforward, especially regarding security features like anti-filtering, IPS, and web filtering.

The choice really depends on the specific features needed, such as advanced SD-WAN capabilities, which can increase costs. Therefore, it is important for organizations to plan their licensing effectively to optimize value.

I have used FortiClient as part of the Fortinet SASE deployment, primarily for remote users, providing secure access via VPN and ZTNA, along with endpoint protection such as web filtering and threat detection. I have also deployed it to integrate with Fortinet FortiGate and the cloud so users can get consistent policies whether they are on-site or remote. It is useful because it centralizes management and policy enforcement, but I have noticed it can use more system resources on endpoints, so tuning the profiles is important for performance.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten. It offers a great balance of performance, security features, and ease of management. However, there is room for improvement in areas such as scalability for extremely large environments and deeper automation. Nonetheless, it is a solid platform that fits well in most enterprise networks. Therefore, I would give it an eight out of ten.

I handle solutions architecture for security and systems design. I have customers who use Fortinet FortiGate.

All the features of Fortinet FortiGate are good. When customers have issues, it's very easy to talk them through the interface, and when they've got any support issues and they want to figure them out themselves, it's very easy for them to contact the FortiGate support. All the knowledge bases have various information and knowledge articles to assist them in getting solutions as quickly as possible.

We use SASE, and it's a great product; I wish FortiGate had come out with it sooner because it helps significantly.

Fortinet FortiGate stands out due to its functionality and longevity. It's stable once you've completed the setup.

In Fortinet FortiGate, they've already improved many areas and built in new features. When considering what can be improved in Fortinet FortiGate, more competitive pricing is needed more than anything else. Fortinet FortiGate is a very good product, but when we look at the South African market, they just need to relook at the pricing because it's a bit pricey for some of the local government organizations.

I've been using Fortinet FortiGate for the last 15 years.

The stability of Fortinet FortiGate rates as a nine out of ten.

It is scalable. I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability.

Our clients range from across the board.

It's easy for customers to get assistance with the product.

I would rate their support a nine out of ten. I don't have any problems with the vendors.

It's mostly on prem. I'm going to do data center solutions and cloud deployment.

It's very easy to do the implementations. Even training the customers on how to do their own rules and whitelists is very easy. On average, it takes me about two and a half hours with all the customization for the clients.

Fortinet FortiGate does not require any maintenance. Once it's done, the only times we do maintenance is if the customer wants something or there are updates.

I've shown them how it works with FortiSIEM, so now I can get them to actually do inspections on their infrastructures every six months, do penetration testing, and see that their environments are secure.

When you look at certain sectors of the market, the pricing is a little high.

We are implementing FortiGate's data center solution now because I'm starting to let local government sites work through one data center.

With FortiGate SD-WAN, the impact has been very little on the network performance because we've done certain things at night and certain things during the day, so the impact on the network is very low. In my organization, there are about three Fortinet specialists focusing on FortiGate.

I'd recommend Fortinet FortiGate to other users. Overall, I'd give Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten, with pricing being the main factor preventing a higher score.

We integrate SD-WAN capabilities with Fortinet FortiGate frequently. Integrating SD-WAN is very easy and almost plug and play. In many cases, it's accomplished by using the built-in features. For more advanced SD-WAN configuration, it's very well documented and described in the Fortinet documents, which helps significantly. It works flawlessly most of the time and is very easy to administer.

I haven't worked extensively with Fortinet Unified SASE yet. We will probably work more with it, but since Norway is quite a small country, we don't have the same use cases as America has, which has many branches of their customers. Our big clients are usually what the US refers to as a small business. We have many smaller locations, which have fewer security needs in a SASE way, as of yet. We are starting to see that the thinking about SASE is changing and more companies are actually starting to open up for the idea of having SASE. I still haven't actually implemented it. I've done several labs with Fortinet and workshops with them. I don't have the experience to actually say how it works because I haven't implemented it with a working customer yet.

I have used Fortinet FortiGate's data center solution. In some cases, we use the high-end data center Fortinet FortiGate. We currently don't utilize machine learning in our data center solutions. We have not implemented any AI capabilities in our production environments due to security concerns. We prefer to avoid using newer and potentially untested technologies in critical environments. Our focus is on maintaining security, and we believe in having a hands-on approach to fully understand the processes involved. Although we’re not using AI, we have had a lot of success with FortiGate for data centers. They are very effective, and I personally enjoy using them. One of the advantages of FortiGate for data centers is that it operates exactly the same way as a regular FortiGate. This means you don't have to relearn everything just because you’re using a higher-end product; it's extremely powerful without requiring a significant adjustment. Overall, we appreciate the ease of transitioning to these systems.

We’re not necessarily a bigger part of the development as a partner, but I feel we’re more informed and more welcomed into the process of actually building the Fortinet FortiGate features because we can easily create a feature request and they will actually take it seriously if it’s something that they see a use case for, and they will publish it. I feel we have a great say in what could be improved feature-wise. I also feel they are very attentive when we’re giving them constructive criticism and they actually take it seriously, which not all vendors are. Being that we’re a small country, it speaks volumes that they care what we say because we’re not that big of a deal in the global picture of Fortinet sales, but they still care what we mean and what we say. It’s very nice to feel that.

The best features of Fortinet FortiGate would be the throughput for the value for money in regards to throughput and security. Many companies have security, many companies have throughput, but very few have throughput and security bundled together in the same price range. It's very easy to use compared to competitors, easy to understand, and the training material is readily available and not hidden behind paywalls as much as many competitors have chosen to do. It's easier to get knowledge, easier to get understanding, and it's a wide portfolio of training material, which is easy to access, which is very good for new technicians. It's also very good for the customer if they want to get a deeper understanding of the product they are actually buying, which they often do.

There's not much to improve except getting rid of more bugs earlier in the software versions so you don't have to be one and a half years behind on software because you're afraid of bugs in the newer releases. I do understand why they have feature releases, which are the newer software releases, but when Fortinet themselves say, don't use feature releases if you don't need the features in production environments, I would really prefer to have more stable software releases, so you don't have to be scared when upgrading.

I have worked on and off with Fortinet FortiGate for about seven years. My main focus has been Fortinet FortiGate for around four years now. It was a part of my work day earlier and now it's one of my main responsibilities to develop our Fortinet FortiGate use for customer cases in our company.

Considering the last three years, I would put Fortinet FortiGate at a seven out of ten because there have been many bugs and vulnerabilities, which forces us to do updates very hastily. I do understand that other competitors also have vulnerabilities. I just feel that Fortinet FortiGate has had many vulnerabilities in the last three years, which forces us to do unscheduled downtime for upgrades. Most of the time in large data center installations, you don’t really notice the downtime because it’s high availability, so the other one takes over. We have many customers that don’t have high availability, so it really sends a message that we are using a product that’s maybe not the most secure regarding vulnerabilities, which is unfortunate. Most customers understand it, but it’s still a nuisance to have unscheduled downtime because of a vulnerability.

The scalability of Fortinet FortiGate rates a perfect ten out of ten. Scalability is one of the biggest upsides of it. It doesn’t create a problem if the customer wants to upscale or extend or do anything to scale the solution. Even downscaling works very well.

We're taking the large customers in Norway. In the last eight months, we had the two biggest Fortinet sales in Norway's history, so we're focusing on high-end customers.

Most of the time, vendor support for Fortinet FortiGate rates a ten out of ten. They’re very helpful and sincere. They really try their best to help us with our problems and challenges, and they never back down from wanting to help. Sometimes it’s an eight out of ten because we sometimes get in the same cases as a competitor of ours, not a competitor of Fortinet, and they tend to say that they’re treating us equally, while we know they are not. I know they’re trying their best to be equal, but there are many levels of why it’s hard. Most of the time, it would be a ten out of ten with no issues at all.

As a company, we've gone from only selling Fortinet FortiGate as an accessory to creating an entire department in our business dedicated to selling Fortinet products in the span of three years.

I find that with the proper experience using Fortinet FortiGate, the deployment process is quite straightforward. However, it does take some time to become familiar with the deployment tools like FortiManager. While FortiManager is highly beneficial, mastering it requires considerable time and effort since it operates differently than FortiGate. Therefore, you need to learn a new product in order to use it effectively. Also, a lot of technicians use that as an excuse to not learn it that well and continue to use Fortinet FortiGate, which kind of eliminates the purpose of FortiManager. The skill requirements for using FortiManager are somewhat high. This perspective is based on our Norwegian segment, where most of our customers have fewer than ten Fortinet FortiGate. In many cases, they likely don't need FortiManager at all.

The initial deployment takes days. There’s tuning and everything, but the initial deployment and getting it up in production is usually completed in days. Most of the time we actually do it in one day. After hours on a weekday, we usually deploy big Fortinet FortiGate for the biggest customers. We usually finish that before the next work day. The initial setup takes days, not weeks. Completing the setup completely is a continual thing, so that’s never really done because we’re fine-tuning everything all the time. It’s not something I can put a time estimate on.

It's easy to maintain, but it does require upkeep, as all security products do. You can't just deploy and forget about it. This is especially true for security systems, since new vulnerabilities and methods of exploitation arise every day. However, this is not unique to Fortinet; it's a reality across the entire industry. Keeping that in mind, maintaining a Fortinet FortiGate is still quite straightforward, and there are no significant issues in doing so.

Implementation is usually done internally with highly trained staff in our department dedicated to Fortinet FortiGate, without extensive use of external consultants.

We're starting a new division, a group of FortiGate and Fortinet specialists. Right now, I'm focused on creating and launching this group. Currently, we have ten experts on board, with four or five who are very familiar with the product. I would categorize five to six of them as high-level experts. The remaining team members are also knowledgeable; they may not all be classified as experts by Fortinet, but I consider them to be. These individuals are well-versed in FortiGate and are capable of handling complete installations for large customers independently. I would estimate that there are about seven of them with this level of expertise.

I don't have many insights on numbers, but we’ve gone from only selling Fortinet FortiGate as an accessory to creating an entire department in our business dedicated to selling Fortinet products in the span of three years. That’s very quick in our business, which signals it’s a very good return on investment. We have a very big focus internally on getting more people on board with Fortinet, even moving people from other vendors to Fortinet to create a better understanding of the entire Fortinet portfolio to be able to take those cases because we see the customers really want Fortinet FortiGate and we want to deliver it. That’s one of the main focuses we have now, getting more people on board.

There are levels to it, but the newer FortiGate models offer a very good value for money. It's not too cheap but also not too expensive. I find it to be fairly priced and almost the standard of what the competitors should offer as well.

Regarding how I compare Fortinet FortiGate to other solutions on the market or other vendors, I feel we’re not necessarily a bigger part of the development as a partner, but I feel we’re more informed and more welcomed into the process of actually building the Fortinet FortiGate features because we can easily create a feature request and they will actually take it seriously if it’s something that they see a use case for, and they will publish it.

I would absolutely recommend Fortinet FortiGate. It makes a complex area easy to understand and easy to administer. It’s a very complex world protecting from the scary outside internet, but Fortinet FortiGate makes it very easy and they do have easy to use guidance built into the Fortinet FortiGate itself that helps you make good choices. You can also use the built-in features to scan your deployment to see if anything is done out of the norm. If you’ve misclicked something and done anything wrong, you would get a message if you just use the tools in the gate. It’s a quick and easy way to deal with something very complex.

My overall rating for Fortinet FortiGate would be a nine out of ten.

The main use cases for Fortinet FortiGate usually include security to filter traffic to inside the network, load balancing and QoS for the user side, as well as Zero Trust Network Access, allowing users outside and inside the network fabric to connect to our application that is under the firewall.

The most useful features in Fortinet FortiGate are the security features, where we can analyze what kind of traffic is inside our network, and we also utilize ZTNA for limiting and managing our network access.

The issue with Fortinet FortiGate is the many security CVEs around; I have read there are probably multiple critical CVEs above 9.0 in Fortinet FortiGate products. There appear to be fewer issues with other brands such as Palo Alto or Check Point, but especially with Fortinet FortiGate, there are many vulnerabilities that can be found. The way we manage this is by applying updates whenever new ones are available, but the high critical CVEs generate concern, as we buy security products for our safety and when we find that attackers can easily breach them, it makes us question the safety of the product itself.

I hope we can deploy the product in an active-active configuration since we currently have two units in an active and passive setup. There are limitations when trying to install it with active-active, but we hope to run it that way.

I have been working with the Fortinet FortiGate firewall for two years.

Stability wise, Fortinet FortiGate is quite good; we rarely have issues with stability, and compared to the previous solution we had, which was much worse, Fortinet FortiGate has had no issues so far.

Fortinet FortiGate is not very scalable. We use the appliance, and once we are out of capacity, we have to buy a new one, as there is no way through scalability. I would rate scalability as a seven out of ten.

I rarely use customer support, but there are a few cases where I tried to reach out before, and it was handled and closed properly, so I had no issues. I would rate the support as nine, based on my experience.

The previous solution we used was Sophos. Sophos had stability problems.

The setup is not complex. It's quite straightforward.

The return on investment after implementing Fortinet FortiGate has been quite okay, allowing us to get the value of what we paid for.

The benefit is more like we are buying insurance. All of the security products may be optional, but having them helps us feel safer and assures us that our network is protected from attackers.

It's affordable. We usually pay about 10K USD annually for the license on a yearly basis.

We have experience with integrating SD-WAN capabilities in Fortinet FortiGate. It is only useful if we have multiple internet operators; if we use a one-to-one connection, there are no benefits. Some of our sites do have multiple internet access, allowing us to use SD-WAN to manage the connection, making it easier to treat it as a single connection while SD-WAN helps manage and load balance between those two.

We do not use Fortinet Unified SASE now, but we are considering implementing it. In the data center, we actually have another solution, but Fortinet FortiGate is used only for our customer-facing side.

My advice to those planning to use Fortinet FortiGate is to check for updates often. We had several issues before due to the firmware we used, but after upgrading to the 7.4 firmware, a lot of issues were resolved just by applying the update regularly. Actually, compared to other firewalls, it is on the very affordable side.

I would rate Fortinet FortiGate an eight out of ten.

My use cases for Fortinet FortiGate mostly involve perimeter-based security and fire-walling.

I find that Fortinet FortiGate is pretty easy to use and integrated, offering many features in one box at a decent price compared to other enterprise vendors. When I first used it as a one-for-one replacement, the functionality was basically the same, but the ease of use compared to the old solution increased, so I definitely saw benefits immediately.

Fortinet FortiGate could improve by enhancing FortiManager, which is the centralized management system. It has many inconsistencies and errors with respect to pushing policies, especially when we have a large network team that needs to push different rules. Improving the consistency and allowing proper stability with many users managing hundreds of firewalls would be beneficial. Regarding cloud deployment in public cloud, it is less flexible and scalable, and customers need to provide and take care of resiliency, scalability, and redundancy. This could be a future improvement for Fortinet FortiGate to better adhere to cloud philosophies.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate for approximately 10 years.

The stability and performance of Fortinet FortiGate have been good, as it has been running at the company for quite a few years since we first implemented it.

Regarding scalability, we have hundreds of physical appliances deployed, which are running adequately. However, in cloud deployment such as public cloud, it is less flexible and scalable. Customers need to provide and take care of resiliency, scalability, and redundancy, which could be a future improvement for Fortinet FortiGate to better adhere to cloud philosophies.

I have contacted technical support regarding FortiSwitch integration issues with Fortinet FortiGate. They are good at responding, though I don't need to call support often. For myself, the experience has been good. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give Fortinet FortiGate's support an eight. I did have some minor issues with the person I talked to, but overall, they were able to resolve the issue.

I have used alternatives to Fortinet FortiGate.

For someone with a network background deploying Fortinet FortiGate for the first time, the switch is very easy and the UI is easy to navigate. However, their CLI is very difficult to learn, though changes and configurations in the UI are very understandable.

For the deployment of Fortinet FortiGate, it depends on the project, but for smaller or even bigger deployments, one person can easily handle it, excluding data center rack installation.

Fortinet FortiGate requires maintenance, including updates and firmware updates to fix bugs and security vulnerabilities. Overall, it runs fine, but it has security vulnerabilities with respect to some features that may have affected its reputation. Keeping up to date is a normal part of having any product vendor, and their upgrade process has been smooth.

I don't necessarily know directly about their pricing, but Fortinet tends to be lower than Cisco based on the separate projects I've been involved with. In general, Fortinet FortiGate has very competitive pricing.

Cisco Firepower is one alternative to Fortinet FortiGate. Comparing both, ease of use is a major difference. Cisco Firepower's ease of use is very poor, with many bugs and issues that made it non-functional - some things break and pushing policies is very slow.

Previously, I was a customer of Fortinet, but now I am also a reseller partner. I rate Fortinet FortiGate 8 out of 10.

Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features. Some firewalls do not provide many features, but Fortinet FortiGate provides them at a reasonable price. Their pricing has been increasing over time. We can have a low-cost solution with all integration supported, providing a full package cost-effective manager. The solution offers SD-WAN capability, web filtering, application filtering, WAF, and authentication features. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic. They implement it in high availability mode on their data center side and at the perimeter level.

Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features that other firewalls do not offer. The solution offers these features at a reasonable price, though prices have been increasing over time. They provide a low-cost product with all integration supported, offering a full package cost-effective manager. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic.

When they release security updates, functionality needs to be cross-checked thoroughly. The firmware updates and patch updates for particular issues can affect other features. Patch testing should be more comprehensive before deployment. The solution could be improved compared to higher-end products in the Fortinet FortiGate line.

I have been using FortiGate for more than 15 years.

For stability, Fortinet FortiGate scores eight out of ten with mature versions. However, when dealing with vulnerabilities and security updates, performance can be affected at the application level and other functionalities. With mature OS versions, the stability rating remains above eight, but during vulnerability and security issues, the rating drops to six or seven. This sometimes requires seeking alternative solutions rather than patching.

The customer service is good. They can easily identify issues and provide solutions efficiently when dealing with bugs.

I previously worked with Aruba Instant.

The initial setup is easy to implement.

Implementation was done through an implementer.

FortiGuard is included in the setup. When deploying Fortinet FortiGate, it is recommended to check which functionalities are required and enable only those needed. This approach ensures optimal performance from the Fortinet FortiGate firewall.

There are other providers available such as Sophos that provide similar features at a lower cost. However, for stability, Fortinet FortiGate provides combined features in a cost-effective manner.

The solution is primarily used for data center solutions, specifically for NGFW and authentication. Most customers use Fortinet FortiGate for internet facility and outbound traffic. The SD-WAN features are commonly used for connectivity, and the bandwidth and ISP connectivity performance is good. There have been no issues with VPN connectivity for site-to-site connections. Multiple load balancing mechanisms show good performance. On a scale of 1-10, this solution receives a rating of 8.

The solution is used for protecting offices for outbound traffic.

To be brutally honest, it wasn't my choice of vendor, but it seems to be able to do everything, though its configurations have to be quite specific. This is neither a positive nor a negative aspect, it is simply how the solution functions.

The operational logic is not as straightforward as a Sophos XGS device. When creating rules in the Sophos firewall, they are more intuitive than in the Fortinet FortiGate IPS device. The Fortinet FortiGate IPS device is more complicated.

The solution needs to be simplified.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate IPS for six months.

The initial setups are acceptable, though I have not been the one implementing them.

The solution is stable.

It is crucial to size your hardware correctly to avoid problems.

The solution serves about five users.

The support package being an additional extra, even with an enterprise package purchase, is pathetic.

Though I haven't had direct experience with support, the fact that it doesn't come by default, which is very misleading compared to other brands, warrants a rating of two out of ten.

A basic setup can be accomplished in a few hours, but significant customization is required to achieve the desired configuration.

I view it from the perspective that making an investment in the product prevents potentially larger costs when something goes wrong.

The solution is more affordable compared to alternatives.

The solution is suitable for small-medium customers, provided they have the ability to set it up.

The implementation has been successful so far.

On a scale of 1-10, I rate Fortinet FortiGate IPS a seven.

We deal with messaging, specifically A2P, P2P, and RCS, a rich communication service.

We use Fortinet FortiGate 500, 600, and 900E, which are mainly used for data center activities.

Fortinet FortiGate has helped us significantly in many ways. Previously, we had multiple data centers interconnected over IPsec tunnels. Each IPsec tunnel was individual, and if that tunnel went down, manual intervention was needed to reroute the traffic to the available path. To avoid such cases, I introduced the SD-WAN concept using ADVPN (auto-discovery VPN). With this solution, I have almost four sites where critical traffic flows, avoiding many impacts. The reason we prefer Fortinet FortiGate SD-WAN is that it enables automatic establishment of the next available VPN if any connectivity goes down, ensuring all hub and spoke connectivity flows through the hub. Using ADVPN, spoke-to-spoke communication is established so that hub bandwidth or hub firewall does not get overloaded.

The best features in Fortinet FortiGate are the SD-WAN, IPsec tunnel, and the SSL VPN. It is very user friendly, and we can integrate multiple underlay links to the firewall. From there, you can manage it, and by using this SD-WAN concept, the device itself will make decisions about which path to take to reach the destination. If there are any issues on the desired path, it will automatically select the best path based on the configuration defined in the SLAs. This feature is particularly impressive. Before introducing SD-WAN, I had perimeter devices such as independent routers where intelligent routing across the underlay links was not possible.

It is very informative and easy to implement. The GUI is very user friendly. Using this solution, we can easily integrate security profiles based on needs and requirements of internal stakeholders to avoid malicious traffic or security-related issues.

When onboarding any Fortinet FortiGate to your production platform with active internet connectivity, the device connects to FortiGuard to fetch all signatures and behavioral patterns based on your security policy. It detects anomalous traffic and packets undergo deep inspection. If there are any anonymous or malicious activities, it immediately blocks them based on defined policy actions and alerts the end user and network administrator via FortiManager or via the cloud.

I don't have any areas for improvement in terms of features. With the introduction of AI/ML, they are performing behavioral pattern checks in terms of security. They have removed the SSL web-based and tunnel-based features, and they are improving in many aspects including the UI. However, throughout this year, their support has been very poor.

We have been using Fortinet FortiGate for more than 10 years.

It's stable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.

It's scalable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.

We have clients with more than 2,000 users.

Their support needs improvement. When raising a service request on the portal, it normally takes two to three days for a response. Even for production issues, they do not initiate contact. The customer has to call the TAC before they schedule calls, which is problematic.

The deployment is very easy. People who are familiar with Fortinet FortiGate can implement it through CLI and GUI. It is very user-friendly for deploying complex configurations. There is also a tool called FortiExporter, which can convert all configurations from any OEM to Fortinet FortiGate.

It doesn’t require much maintenance. The only maintenance activity required is firmware updates.

We have approximately 84 devices in production, demonstrating our investment in Fortinet FortiGate and its usefulness in many ways.

We have invested almost 60% to 70% in Fortinet FortiGate as we don't have any other firewall apart from it. In some cases where we had Palo Alto, we removed it and purchased Fortinet FortiGate. We are using Fortinet FortiGate as our production firewalls in our organizations, corporate offices, and all locations.

It's economical.

In terms of cost, features, and security, everything is top-notch. I would recommend everyone to use Fortinet FortiGate instead of purchasing expensive firewalls such as Palo Alto and other OEMs. It is more economical and provides more flexibility and granularity in terms of access.

Fortinet is a market leader. It is phenomenal in terms of price and kind of services.

I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate to others. I would rate it a ten out of ten.