The most valuable feature of the solution is the security posture it offers.
The tool's dashboard can have some more features and visibility options. I don't think any other thing requires more changes. Technology is evolving all the time. Right now, it is a complete tool. I don't think so. The tool can improve its dashboard and the management process.
The tool does need more upgraded features like automation.
I have been using Fortinet FortiNAC for a year.
Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The concept of the security fabric is increasing, and it is an artificial intelligence program. I am very much satisfied with the product.
We have been using the endpoint protection of Fortinet named as FortiClient Fabric Agent for Endpoint Security. Using the scalability of Fortinet products using FortiNAC and endpoint protection, we are planning to move to the EDR tool in future. Currently, we will be initiating the PoC for the EDR tool in future. Fortinet is very much investing in the security fabric and also in the scalability and visibility of the product.
There is no plan to expand the number of users in the future, but it might be possible for the growth of the organization. While performing the sizing, we have consulted our high management that in the next five years, the projection of the number of users will be increasing. We have already given the margin for 50 users, but it is a very minimum number right now. I hope the number of users increases as the operations increase. Currently, there are around 200 users of the tool.
Initially, the tool's toll-free number was not working. As soon as I opened the ticket and moved forward to align the engineers, the product took an hour to appoint an engineer, but I was not able to establish contact with the person. It took a day to onboard the engineer. I wrote so many emails to escalate the issue. The tool's engineer from Sweden or some European region took up and remotely configured and helped us with the tool. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten for the expertise. If you talk about the quality, establishment, and alignment of the engineers, I rate the support a five out of ten, as it took a lot of time. The engineer was well experienced, and he had knowledge of the product and expertise.
I work with Fortinet FortiSASE.
When it comes to the product's initial setup phase, if we compare this with another solution, like Cisco ISE, it's very easy. We have had some challenges as Fortinet FortiNAC was a very new product for us when we tried to deploy it. Fortinet's support team was available to help us a lot, so it was very smooth.
I was leading the project, and I was in charge of deploying FortiNAC; I did all of it by myself. The tool was deployed by one senior and three junior engineers in my company.
The solution is deployed on an on-premises version.
Third-party services or support services were required to help with deployment.
With the tool, I have seen some reductions in operational expenses. Our work was related to human resources, where it was needed to provide security and look after the management and the device access, like which device is going to which VLAN and which policies are going to be interrupted. The cost has been reduced.
I am not familiar with the tool's commercial aspect, so I cannot say anything about its pricing. The procurement department has compared the solution with Cisco ISE, and they have said that there is a huge difference between the prices of Cisco ISE and Fortinet FortiNAC. Fortinet FortiNAC is more affordable than Cisco ISE.
Fortinet FortiNAC's price is less than half of the price compared to Cisco ISE's price. If one is bad and ten is good, I rate the product price as a seven out of ten.
I chose to work with Fortinet FortiNAC as we had the firewall of Fortinet FortiGate, and we were using FortiGate's endpoint protection. Fortinet's team and account manager briefed our company about the product and provided us with a PoC phase of the product. I am highly impressed by Fortinet's threat intelligence program.
The tool streamlines network security management in our organization as it provides zero-trust access along with the servers, and it is the agent which we install on the end devices for creating the security posture.
The tool's most effective in preventing unauthorized access is in the area of zero trust. Real-time device monitoring works pretty well, and its dashboard is very comprehensive, as it provides many details about each endpoint that is connected to the network. We are just trying to gain access. We tried multiple programs. We did some testing for connecting the BYOD devices and the guest devices, and we tried to create a malicious machine tool to gain access to the network, so it provided visibility, blocked, and stopped the activity of the malicious machine, which was trying to gain access. The policies that we created for the bring your own devices worked pretty well. The guest network was totally separate from the network. The policies were working very well, and we tried all possible testing processes. We were trying our best to fail the tool, but we failed.
We thought that the integration would be difficult with other vendors, but it did not integrate with every device because we use multi-vendor devices, like Cisco, Broadcom, Ubiquiti Wireless, and H3C, which are all pretty wireless. At our core switch, we have Cisco, and at the distribution layer and access layer, we are using H3C. We are using Ubiquiti wireless infrastructure. We are planning to move to Fortinet's wireless tool. At the access layer, we are looking forward to using Fortinet, but in the meantime, we are using multiple vendors.
Speaking about how FortiNAC utilizes AI to enhance its network access controls, I would say that the tool claims that it uses AI for network access, but I don't think that it uses such a feature because we have tested the type of policies that might be using AI. Fortinet claims that it uses AI and machine learning on its devices. I haven't personally checked it out.
I recommend the tool to others. I had already recommended Fortinet FortiNAC to a few of my colleagues who were using Cisco ISE. I had asked them to try the PoC process of FortiNAC and then move to it, as it is a much more affordable and better product to deploy.
I rate the tool an eight out of ten.