Cisco Catalyst Switches vs FortiGate

• Stability and Reliability - We have not had many failures over the past years using Cisco Catalyst switches.
• Flexibility - Cisco Catalyst switches offers a wide portfolio of switching equipment which can address a variety of needs. This includes switches with stacking and non-stacking capability, fixed rackmount and chassis options which can be mounted in data centre racks and and also compact switching which may be more feasible for small SOHO offices.
• Scalable Performance - Cisco Catalyst switches offers various port speeds from 1Gbps 10Gbps, 100Gbps etc. This is available in both copper (RJ45) and fibre (SFP). Many models also offer a variety of uplink speed options which future proofs the invest in Cisco technologies allowing us to upgrade depending on our changing business requirements and available budgets.

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• My favorite aspect of the Fortigate product is the ease of use. The GUI is very easy to get around. The products rules and configuration are easy to learn and apply. The informational tools are easy to look at and produce results that are intuitive and quick to assess.
• Another great attribute of the FortiGate product was reasonable pricing for the product and then the ongoing support. Living in the SMB space with tight governmental budgets is a huge factor in all my decisions. When a company like Fortinet comes along and produces good products at very reasonable prices it is good for SMB companies like mine. Many vendors price their products in a fashion that is beyond consideration by SMBs like myself.
• Support is always a big factor in consideration of any product for our organization. Fortinet support has been extremely good. They have provided an onsite engineer at no cost to help us design, implement and maintain new products when needed. The call support has also been excellent, with quick response times and knowledgeable technicians.

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• Would like to see a second power supply so it can get power from two different sources.
• Hard to find a USB flash drive that will work when loading images for upgrade.
• IOS upgrades are a pain to perform. Upgrades should be an easy process. Would like to perform the upgrade through a web browser.

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• Fortigate's SSL VPN client isn't available via MSI with an easy options for mass deployment and configuration out of the box. You need to have a Fortinet Developer Network license to create a custom deploy image.
• Fortinet's after hours support is overseas and is adequate. Not stellar.

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• Cisco catalyst switches have allowed our networks to run smoothly with no interruptions.
• These switches are scalable so we were able to add more switches as needed, without interrupting the network activity.
• Automation techniques allowed us to deploy configuration with minimum effort.

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• (Positive) The network is secured.
• (Positive) As an analyst, I have to convince C level executives regarding protection from threats, intrusion, and productivity of the network resources. And I am achieving all the segments with ease of access.
• (Neutral) The unavailability of post-sale service requires improvements. But due to the vast community of users and excellent documentation of the product, hides the lack of post-sale service availability.

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