Likelihood to Recommend I consider that its implementation is recommended for configurations where the amount of access points exceeds 50 devices and the performance exceeds 4 Gbps. In environments where the access point density is less than 10 units, we can use the option of Express Mobility.
Read full review Fortinet offers great Security features and is one of the leaders on that, and integrating Wireless LAN infrastructure with Access points proved to work rather seamlessly. Ease of management, single platform and ability to customize licensing as per needs were elements in favor of adding the Wireless LAN solution from Fortinet to our security portfolio.
Read full review Pros It has the ability to manage all Cisco access points that we have, regardless of the model. The limit is 1500 pieces of equipment. The WLC enables roaming functionality in the localities, this helps with collections, wireless IP phones, and access with notebooks. The WLC manages the quality of the "air" and "signal" of the 2.4ghz frequency, avoiding noise and interference. The WLC has an interesting feature of visibility of the traffic of the internal network. Read full review Really easy to configure Really easy to manage Great value for price Read full review Cons We have had some issues with access points losing their configurations and going offline. This is not a common issue and we are not entirely certain if it is a fault of the controller or the individual APs. That said, the controller does not appear to retain the knowledge of the offline AP which can be a management headache. Read full review In the web portal, it would be nice if you could create a customer, assign that customer all the devices in the solution, and have a single pane glass to manage them all. Right now you need to access different web links to manage the devices. The security feature set could be a bit more sophistication, like an Arista AP which polices the air. Read full review Likelihood to Renew It works great and [we] will definitely renew.
Read full review Support Rating Cisco is always available if we need support. If they are unable to solve the problem right away, they will reach back to us in a timely manner and advise what we need to do. Their team provides additional guidance as well if we hit any stumbling blocks. Their service has been great.
Read full review Fortinet offers excellent support. They will work with you until the solution is doing what it is designed to do, within its capabilities. They also do an excellent to follow-up with the end-user prior to closing the ticket.
Read full review Alternatives Considered Cisco is the most stable company in switching parts including wireless, and it has the most powerful support team with a lot of online documents, community, and market share so when you get stuck, you can find support from anywhere. And usually, you won't need it as its product is very stable and reliable.
Read full review as a stand-alone product, the Fortinet wireless LAN solution isn't the most powerful, nor compelling out there. Others, like Cisco Meraki, offer great products, with added wifi features at a similar price point, but where Forti shines, is when integrated into a network with firewall enablement such as
FortiGate . Overall, it stacks up well with others and is a solution that needs to be evaluated in a purchasing project.
Read full review Return on Investment [It provides] centralized management. Implementing the [Cisco] 5520 [Wireless] Controllers offered us a huge improvement in administrative time over our previous Cisco 3850 deployment. Being able to see all of our APs on a single controller as well as centrally manage them is a great benefit. This also removed the need to deploy specific equipment in different IDFs throughout our Industrial locations and instead only requiring switches with Power Over Ethernet (POE) capability. Wireless performance has improved with the deployment of our 5520s, which allows our plant operators to do their jobs more efficiently while on the move. Having three Cisco 5520 Wireless Controllers provides tertiary redundancy for our wireless networks. The solution is elegantly simple. Preventing downtime is, obviously, a profound part of our supply chain capabilities. Read full review Less management cost Less expensive to buy Read full review ScreenShots