Aruba Networks Wireless WAN vs Fortinet FortiWLM comparison

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN

Read 47 Aruba Networks Wireless WAN reviews

554 Views
281 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Fortinet FortiWLM

Read 23 Fortinet FortiWLM reviews

4,306 Views
3,896 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN

Fortinet FortiWLM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Aruba Networks Wireless WAN and Fortinet FortiWLM based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Ubiquiti Networks, Ruckus, Cambium Networks and others in Wireless WAN.

To learn more, read our detailed Wireless WAN Report (Updated: June 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Wireless WAN

June 2024

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Helped 787,061 peers since 2012

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Wireless WAN (5th)

Fortinet FortiWLM

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Wireless LAN (15th)

Market share comparison

As of June 2024, in the Wireless WAN category, the market share of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is 4.4% and it increased by 97.3% compared to the previous year. The market share of Fortinet FortiWLM is 1.6% and it increased by 7.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Wireless WAN

Unique Categories:

No other categories found

Wireless LAN

1.7%

Featured Reviews

DeepakKumar6

Network solutions architecture at a energy/utilities company with 10,001+ employees

Jan 19, 2023

Flexible, scalable, and boosts mobility, but device integration has room for improvement

I have experience with Aruba Networks Wireless WAN. My company has a 7200 series Aruba controller, almost five hundred access points, and Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager. My company's existing database is deployed on-premises, including the controller, access point, and the Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager. A team of five people, including myself, deployed Aruba Networks Wireless WAN. It was a process of putting and mounting access points. I also had two members in charge of configuring the switches while I configured the controller and the Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager. Once access points become visible on the controller, my team will proceed to the template configuration deployment for Aruba Networks Wireless WAN. The deployment team consisted of five L1s, three L2s, and me, so a total of nine. My unit deployed five hundred access points to six thousand end users. My team of eight takes care of administration. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN requires maintenance, for example, upgrading the controller or the Aruba ClearPass Policy Manager and then posture agent deployment for six thousand users. Any agent upgrade means deployment for the users as well. I'd tell anyone looking into implementing Aruba Networks Wireless WAN that it's a good solution with many advantages, such as mobility, flexibility, and scalability, so I suggest using Aruba Networks Wireless WAN to enhance user experience. My rating for Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is seven out of ten. My role is similar to an integrator of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN. My company is an Aruba Networks customer.

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FransLegdeur

Owner at Falco Networks

Jan 24, 2023

Central management, integrated controller, and scalable

We use a basic setup and the initial setup of Fortinet FortiWLM. The implementation process takes approximately one hour. To effectively manage your network, it's important to understand the concept of profiles. These profiles can be tailored to specific types of hardware and when that hardware is detected, it will automatically be configured to match the corresponding profile, ensuring all APs are consistently set up. It's a fantastic solution for network management. The bulk of the work involves physically connecting all the devices and ensuring they have the correct IP addresses. Once that is done, the logical setup is relatively simple and can be accomplished by navigating through the GUI to create profiles. I rate the initial setup of Fortinet FortiWLM a seven out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"We don't know this product very well yet, but what we have used so far and what we like are user control, bandwidth, and access."

"Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is stable and good."

"It integrates with the Aruba portfolio very easily, and it's a vendor-agnostic solution, and that's brilliant."

"What I like most about Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is seamless integration from an endpoint perspective. Another valuable feature of the product is that it supports certificate-based authentication."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of setup and deployment."

"The security feature and the signal are good as they is dependent on our needs."

"The most valuable feature of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is centralized management. It has features like other solutions, but it's easier to manage. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN also has a tax asset benefit which is good."

"I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."

More Aruba Networks Wireless WAN pros

"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiWLM is the single management pane and integrated controller inside the firewall."

"The Fortinet FortiWLM system can be controlled through the cloud controller, which is convenient when the solution is not installed in our environment, as it allows us to manage the entire WiFi or access points and provides more adaptability."

"The most valuable features of this solution are its speed, reliability, and integration with the firewall."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is the management."

"The setup was easy."

"I use Fortinet FortiWLM for wireless communication and the internet."

"With Fortinet, there is a feature called Network-In-Control. It's the AP controller that decides what the clients are going to connect to... Even though your phone sees, let's say, two APs, since the wireless controller has visibility into and access across all the APs, it knows the best AP for the client to connect to. This way, the controller makes sure that none of the APs is over-crowded, and the spectrum is used properly."

"We can deploy a tunnel-based VLAN and SSID, for something that happens at the last minute, in a matter of minutes, because of the interaction between the FortiGate, the FortiSwitches, and the FortiAPs."

More Fortinet FortiWLM pros

Cons

"Support is a little expensive. It's also a little tricky to configure Aruba sometimes. For example, if we want to whitelist a device, it works in unexpected ways. I want to allow this device to connect somewhere, and it lets it connect to any device in the network. Let's say I want to allow my phone to connect to the network printer, but if I add my phone to the white list, I automatically allow my phone to connect to any other devices, and it's not secure."

"When it comes to configuring rules for file security tests, any issues that arise can be referred to as "glitches". Despite the extensive configurations required, the process itself is not overly complicated."

"The integration should be better."

"The product offers a feature that pinpoints where the devices are to help users find them easily if they want to know where a laptop or tablet is, but it is a feature that needs improvements due to some shortcomings."

"It would be better for customers if Aruba provided more license options, like 5-year licenses"

"Sometimes, the configuration part of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN can be complex, and if you fail to understand the product at once, you may not even know about some features that you can apply to your network, and they may go unused."

"It works. We don't look at it any deeper than that and don't find any features ar missing."

"The price for the license could be a bit improved since it is the only area with an issue."

More Aruba Networks Wireless WAN cons

"Licensing is the only area that I think they are below average. They need enterprise licensing, an all-encompassing license to cover all products for a company."

"The roaming of Fortinet FortiWLM could improve when comparing it to other solutions. We are missing some of the functionality in the controller. Additionally, they should offer more logs instead of using FortiAnalyzer because all the users will not be using the same thing."

"The platform's pricing needs improvement."

"The solution should improve user capacity."

"In the next release, they could improve by adding a controller-less server, or architecture that is provided in other solutions, such as Aruba. This would be a great benefit for customers."

"I have used Cisco previously and I don't see any specific differences from Fortinet FortiWLM or other vendors."

"One of the main features that I see as lacking in any of the Fortinet products is the reporting. If you want to have proper, end-to-end reporting, you must purchase the FortiAnalyzer... If Fortinet could offer some better, built-in reporting, that would be a point of improvement."

"The interface could certainly do with some improvement. We have other customers with WiFi networks, and they always use Ubiquiti. With Ubiquiti, it's a much better user interface, and it is much easier to configure."

More Fortinet FortiWLM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's price is within range since it has a lower price."

"Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is pretty cost-efficient than Cisco ISE when my company did a PO, but for a single-party tender, its pricing was on the higher side, so it depends. I rate the pricing for Aruba Networks Wireless WAN as six out of ten."

"I rate the pricing a seven or eight on a scale of one to ten, where ten is the highest and one is the cheapest."

"The price of this solution is approximately 1,000,000 ESP ($6,750 USD)."

"It is a costly solution."

"The pricing of the product is pretty good."

"The pricing is cheaper in comparison to similar products."

"Aruba Wireless comes with the controller."

More Aruba Networks Wireless WAN pricing and cost advice

"To save yourself from increased setup and maintenance costs, I highly recommend undertaking a proper site survey from the beginning."

"Fortinet FortiWLM's pricing is regular and competitive."

"The solution is expensive. I give the solution a one out of ten for the price."

"Support contracts typically cost approximately $100.00 per year."

"Fortinet would do something with their pricing model to attract smaller business users and eliminate the mandatory service contracts."

"Licensing costs are reasonable. There are so many different types of licenses with Fortinet, but the licensing and the 24/7/365 support are so reasonable that I automatically include it with every transaction. I never line item it without it. There are no additional costs."

"The product is highly expensive. I rate the pricing a ten."

"There is a perpetual license required for this solution and the price could be reduced."

More Fortinet FortiWLM pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

16%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Media Company

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Do you recommend Aruba Network Wireless WAN?

I recommend Aruba Networks Wireless WAN. I have been using Aruba for approximately a decade. It has a great centralized management system, which means we don’t need wireless LAN controllers at ever...

See all answers

What do you like most about Aruba Networks Wireless WAN?

I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Networks Wireless WAN?

The solution is expensive.

See all answers

What do you like most about Fortinet FortiWLM?

The security is a valuable feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiWLM?

The solution is fairly priced.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortinet FortiWLM?

The range needs some improvement and also the stability.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cambium Networks Wireless WAN vs Aruba Networks Wireless WAN

Compared 68% of the time

Ubiquiti Wireless vs Aruba Networks Wireless WAN

Compared 18% of the time

More Aruba Networks Wireless WAN Competitors

Aruba Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 27% of the time

Ruckus Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 10% of the time

ExtremeWireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM

Compared 1% of the time

More Fortinet FortiWLM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN

June 2024

Download Aruba Networks Wireless WAN product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortinet FortiWLM

June 2024

Download Fortinet FortiWLM product report

Also Known As

No data available

FortiWLM, FortiAP, Fortinet AP/OAP, Meru Wireless LAN

Learn More

HPE Aruba Networking

Fortinet

Overview

Aruba Networks Wireless Wide Area Network (WAN) is a powerful WAN solution that enables organizations and businesses to create global networks that securely connect their members regardless of their locations. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN leverages AI to create a network that is always equipped to address issues or keep up with evolving needs. The operations that run on this network are also capable of running consistently because the AI is always learning and keeping the network running smoothly. The cutting-edge build of this solution is the reason that it is a leader in the field of wide area networks.

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN Benefits

Some of the benefits of using Aruba Networks Wireless WAN include:

Minimize the costs associated with cloud integrations. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN enables users to automate the process by which networks connect to cloud and SaaS services. This reduces the total amount of resources that need to be spent on these integrations.

Track the health of a network using real-time tracking. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN gives administrators the ability to keep track of different network health metrics. It possesses a variety of different tracking capabilities that can be used to best meet a user’s needs.

Increased network efficiency. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN’s AI software leverages machine learning to identify issues before they arise and recommend solutions when an issue arises. It enables users to be proactive in dealing with network issues.

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN Features

When users deploy Aruba Networks Wireless WAN, they gain access to a number of very powerful and useful features. These features include:

Unified network policy enforcement. Aruba’s Dynamic Segmentation feature connects all aspects of a user’s WAN. In doing so, it ensures that all network policies are enforced uniformly across every portion of the network.

Dynamic Path Steering (DPS). Aruba Networks Wireless WAN’s DPS feature keeps a user’s network running smoothly. It directs traffic running through the network to the uplink that is most appropriate for it. This minimizes potential network latency.
WAN Compression. This feature makes it possible for users to route more traffic through a given WAN circuit at times of high congestion. It compresses traffic so that the network circuit can better accommodate the increased activity.

Reviews from Real Users

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN allows users to create, deploy, and manage wide area networks. It is a highly flexible solution that provides system engineers with many options when they are designing and rolling out their networks. Administrators can produce networks that are easily configured, rolled out, and monitored from anywhere in the world. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN has a centralized management interface. Administrators can control every aspect of the network from one console. They can access all of the network controls and data from this one interface. This simplifies the jobs of network administrators who are responsible for keeping the networks up and running.

A network engineer at a technology company writes, “I feel that Aruba allows for more flexibility when it comes to configuration and deployment. Aruba gives you the same feeling as using a controller on-prem, whereas Meraki seems to be hiding a lot of the configuration behind the scenes and forces you to actually call them and ask them to enable certain features. So far, using Aruba Central is more like using an actual controller based on the amount of configuration you can do. Meraki just came out with profiles, but as far as I know, they don't have profiles for how your device connects to the actual physical LAN.”

A network and security engineer at a communications service provider writes, “The most valuable feature of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is centralized management capability. You don't have to have wireless LAN controllers at every location.”

Consolidate security and wireless LAN management with our integrated wireless solutions. Single-pane-of-glass management for security and access without the need to add point products simplifies deployment and reduces management complexity. These solutions are highly scalable to support even the largest organizations and distributed enterprises.

Sample Customers

The Pittsburgh Golf Club, Rio Rancho Public Schools, Amwaj Rotana - Jumeirah Beach Residence - Dubai, Trevecca Nazarene University

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data

Find out what your peers are saying about Ubiquiti Networks, Ruckus, Cambium Networks and others in Wireless WAN. Updated: June 2024.

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