We use Fortinet FortiGate SWG for firewall, antivirus, scanning, and web filtering.
Fortinet FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall
Fortinet Inc.External reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
An affordable and easy-to-use solution that can be used for firewall, antivirus, scanning, and web filtering
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate SWG are IPS and scanning. Fortinet FortiGate SWG is also easy to use.
What needs improvement?
The solution’s stability could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG an eight out of ten for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Around 60 users use Fortinet FortiGate SWG in our organization.
How was the initial setup?
The solution’s initial setup is straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the solution through an in-house team.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Fortinet FortiGate SWG is an affordable solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Fortinet FortiGate SWG to other users.
Overall, I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG a nine out of ten.
Has an easy initial setup process and good security features
What is most valuable?
The product has the most valuable configuration, offloading, and security features.
What needs improvement?
Fortinet FortiGate SWG's SSL offloading features need improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for five years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I recommend Fortinet FortiGate SWG to larger companies as the lease line is expensive. It is suitable for companies who are running web applications. It is not a necessity for small businesses.
How are customer service and support?
The product's tier-one support process is time-consuming. It takes time to reach the right person to sort out the issues.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously worked with a product related to SSL offloading and caching through a reverse proxy. Currently, we are serving the small and medium-sized business (SMB) segment, where the requirements and infrastructure may not necessitate SSL offloading and related features due to the absence of web servers within their networks. Simpler and more streamlined solutions suffice for their requirements in such cases.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup process is easy. It takes two or three hours for basic implementation. At the same time, it takes around two days to perform a clone test. It includes fine-tuning, optimizing, and transforming it to the environment once stabilized.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product is expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Fortinet FortiGate SWG an eight out of ten. It has a lower failure rate in terms of configuration. Once it is configured, it keeps running for years. However, they have increased the process by almost 60% to 70%.
FortiGate Cloud is a good and simple cloud management and analytics solution.
FortiGate Cloud as a Firewall for infra.
FortiGate Cloud offers a limited number of customization options, so you may not be able to tailor it to your specific needs.
FortiGate Cloud Review
Being a cloud-based solution, FortiGate Cloud enables administrators to access and manage their network and security settings remotely, providing flexibility and convenience. FortiGate Cloud may integrate with other Fortinet solutions and services, creating a comprehensive ecosystem for network security and management.
Suitable for medium-range companies and user-friendly interface
What is our primary use case?
Our primary use case is for protection. We have general use cases.
What is most valuable?
It is a very user-friendly solution. Moreover, Foritgate offers good performance, where it outperforms Cisco Firepower in various ways.
What needs improvement?
The solution doesn't cover all aspects of protection. There should be better customization in the IPS. The Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) and FortiGuard could benefit from enhancement.
So, in future releases, I want to see improvements in IPS, particularly in terms of customization.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The firewall is very stable and reliable.
I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. There's always room for improvement.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have around three to four customers using this solution.
How are customer service and support?
I can't use the technical support because of some sanctions in Iran.
How was the initial setup?
The setup process is easy and very fast. The setup process is very fast, typically taking only one to two days.
What about the implementation team?
The purchasing process is straightforward, and then the normal deployment process.
Moreover, a single person can handle the deployment and maintenance tasks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a licensing fee; it is on a yearly basis. The pricing iss actually quite normally priced.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have used Cisco. I find impressive about Cisco is its powerful enterprise-grade solution, comparable to Fortinet firewall. FortiGate is not superior to Cisco, but it stands out for its user-friendly interface.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. It is a suitable solution for medium-range companies due to its well-designed user interface.
A highly scalable solution that can be used for network security
What is our primary use case?
We use FortiGate Next Generation Firewall mainly for network security.
What is most valuable?
The solution's application control is very powerful. Another valuable feature is the integration between the firewall and the switches we have. The FortiSwitch extended security fabric is one of the things that we like about the solution.
What needs improvement?
The solution's stability should be improved because it is extremely unstable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) for eight years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is a very scalable solution. Approximately 32 customers are working with the solution.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support team needs more improvement. The technical support team has a slow response and needs more experienced support agents to interact with the customers.
How was the initial setup?
The solution's initial setup is easy and straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
Since it's a security solution, it needs considerable time to deploy. We need to analyze the network, the customer requirements, and the policies we need to add, which can take a couple of days.
For any security solution, there is no straightforward deployment process. It depends on the survey on the customer side and what we are doing for the customer. One security engineer is required for the deployment and maintenance of the solution.
What was our ROI?
Since FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is a slightly expensive solution, the use case determines the ROI. However, since it's quite expensive for general usage, it has a lower ROI.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall is an expensive solution with a yearly subscription. There are no extra costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.
What other advice do I have?
The solution has a lot of features that we like. We don't need additional features because they compromise the solution's stability when they add more features. As a security gateway, we need to be much more stable than adding more features.
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall comes in two versions, namely, the hardware version and the cloud version. For the on-premises version, hardware is to be implemented on-site; for the cloud, it's a cloud security solution. So it depends on which version your customer is using. The licensing is very different for the on-prem and the cloud solution.
When it comes to complex solutions, I highly recommend FortiGate Next Generation Firewall.
Customers looking for SD-WAN and good application control should go for FortiGate Next Generation Firewall. Customers looking for high stability should avoid the solution.
Overall, I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall an eight out of ten.
Scalable platform with efficient filtering features
What is our primary use case?
We use the product for security and filtering purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
The product helps block multiple ports during ransomware attacks.
What is most valuable?
FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) 's most valuable features are reporting and filtering.
What needs improvement?
The product's data guard feature should support a USB port when the internet connection is unavailable.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) for three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the platform's stability a ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Our organization has 500 FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) users. We utilize the platform 24/7. I rate its scalability a ten out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The platform's initial setup process is easy. I rate the process a ten out of ten. It takes a couple of days. The deployment involves integrating it with SSO in FortiGate. It helps with filtering access to user accounts through Active Directory. One executive is required for deployment. Additionally, one executive is needed to take care of packet updates for maintenance.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented the product with the help of our in-house team.
What other advice do I have?
I rate FortiGate Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) an eight out of ten.
An easy-to-install product offering web filtering, application control, and SSL inspection to its users
What is our primary use case?
In my company, we use the product for the help it provides us in terms of SD-WAN, site-to-site VPN, RADIUS authentication, web filtering, application control, SSL inspection, and remote access.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of the solution are SD-WAN and site-to-site VPN.
What needs improvement?
In version 7.2.0, the product offers built-in automation to its users. Earlier, there was no automation offered for the product. Nowadays, the product sends automatic emails to users as a part of its offering to let the users know whenever there is a need for automatic backup when the ISP goes down and the interface status. The automation can be further improved.
Fortinet's support team consists of a huge networking team, because of which there is a delay in response at times. Fortinet's support team needs to improve their time management skills.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Fortinet FortiGate SWG for five years and six months. My company has a partnership with Fortinet.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution since the product offers a FortiGuard server that detects vulnerabilities and ensures such detection of vulnerabilities also involves FortiGate.
My company currently works with basic and mid-level sized businesses.
How are customer service and support?
Whenever our company's customers face any issue with the product, we offer our own support team. Fortinet also has its own support team. If required, our company lodges complaints and the issues faced by our customers with Fortinet. Fortinet's support team initiates the replacement if there is a hardware issue with the product. The solution's technical support is good. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The product is easy to install since we only need to follow the user manual, documents, and articles provided by Fortinet to install the product.
The solution is deployed on-premises.
Just getting the product up and running can take up to forty-five minutes to an hour. The full setup process is carried out based on the requirements of our company's customers, and it can be done in half an hour to forty-five minutes if it is only for basic internet.
In our company, we need around ten engineers for the maintenance and deployment of the solution. The maintenance of the solution is easy since we keep getting constant updates which we can easily use to update the product.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I am unaware of pricing since I am a part of the networking team. My company's sales team manages pricing.
What other advice do I have?
My company basically provides Fortinet FortiGate SWG to our customers. If our company's customers are looking at Palo Alto products, we have another team in our company to provide them with the same. I am an engineer for Fortinet products and can provide support only for Fortinet. There are different sets of engineers managing Palo Alto products.
In Fortinet, you only need one license for all the products. In Palo Alto, for Palo Alto Secure Remote Access, you need to buy a separate license, while there is a need to buy a separate license for Palo Alto SD-WAN. I feel Fortinet products are better since they come in a bundle. With Fortinet, customers don't need to buy different licenses. One can get all the features by installing a single bundled license offered by Fortinet, allowing one to use SD-WAN, site-to-site VPN, remote access web filtering, SSL inspection, and application control.
I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.
Enhanced security compared to traditional firewalls, providing protection against various types of attacks
What is our primary use case?
There are many features that we can use. We can see all the logs. Additionally, we can connect with other devices like the FortiManager. We also have a new feature.
We mainly use the Next Generation Firewall for enhancing security. It has powerful capabilities compared to traditional firewalls, especially when dealing with current threats like those in Azure. The Next Generation Firewall can handle more effectively.
What is most valuable?
The FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall is always updating. For example, if there is a big attack, they fix it in their firmware. They release new firmware with the necessary patches to address the vulnerabilities.
Mainly, we are more secure than with the traditional firewall. The Next Generation Firewall helps a lot in defending against various types of attacks.
What needs improvement?
In terms of solutions, for now, we don't have any SD-WAN. Yeah. We are planning to implement SD-WAN due to some failures we experienced last year. For our high availability design, this would be beneficial.
So I would like to have SD-WAN as a part of the Next Generation Firewall. It would enhance high availability.
For how long have I used the solution?
I work with the FortiGate Next-Generation Firewall. We started using FortiGate about five to six years ago. We have been using various versions and migrated to newer ones over time.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable, quite stable. We also have it set up as a firewall with high availability. We were also talking about SD-WAN for our future plans for our stores, mainly for the internal lines, because this SD-WAN technology is something we would like to implement.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is a scalable solution. We can connect it to any network or with other brands, not only Fortinet. For instance, we can configure it with Cisco or any other brand for connectivity.
In our company, it protects around 500 endpoints.
How are customer service and support?
Customer service and support have different levels of support—level one, level two, level three—based on the severity of the issue. They can also provide scheduled delivery. We usually never face any significant problems with their support.
I am satisfied with the support. They have good knowledge.
How was the initial setup?
The first setup process was easy to do. It was not difficult at all.
What about the implementation team?
We set it up ourselves. We created policies, firewall rules, IPsec VPN configurations, and everything was handled by our team.
The deployment took around five days, and the process was quite easy. The setup was straightforward. If we encountered any issues, we could contact Fortinet support. They were helpful and provided support through the hotline in urgent issues.
Maintenance is quite easy. I did it myself. It's user-friendly. We can use the GUI, or we can use the command line, but the GUI is more user-friendly. So it's good.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is not very expensive compared to Cisco or Palo Alto. Like Palo Alto, which is the most expensive product.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We have always been using Fortinet. It has been quite stable for us.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend it to other users. Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. It is a good solution.