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Aruba Networks Wireless WAN vs Fortinet FortiWLM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Aruba Networks Wireless WAN
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
48
Ranking in other categories
Wireless WAN (5th)
Fortinet FortiWLM
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Wireless LAN (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is designed for Wireless WAN and holds a mindshare of 2.4%, up 1.8% compared to last year.
Fortinet FortiWLM, on the other hand, focuses on Wireless LAN, holds 2.0% mindshare, down 2.2% since last year.
Wireless WAN
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

Joseph Colly - PeerSpot reviewer
Reasonably priced and offers a good GUI
The product is very scalable. When it comes to some schools, they start with the solution's proof of concept in certain sections. My company aims to improve the throughputs in the schools where the product is installed. If the rest of the School wants the product, it is easy to set up the solution. My company uses Aruba Networks Wireless WAN for schools and warehouses but not in the retail sector. The product offers reliability and uptime twenty-four hours and seven days a week. My company gets notified if the reliability offered by the product goes down. My company also gets notified if we are getting hacked.
Zachary Wheeler - PeerSpot reviewer
Impressive manufacturing quality, highly durable, and very easy to deploy
They need to do more with their marketing. That's what's wrong with them. Nobody knows they do all this other stuff. I love the product. For an enterprise-level system, you never have to explain why you're recommending Fortinet, whereas you might have to do that if you want to use the Ubiquiti Professional or the new Netgear line, but you don't have to explain Fortinet. It has been remarkable to work with. It would be nice if they had some smaller switches or hubs. They should offer two-port, three-port, or four-port devices so that you don't have to buy an eight-port switch, and you don't have to use an unmanaged element, but their product line is very complete, and I can't say enough about it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"All the features are available, even including the security. The access point enables the matching of any connectivity."
"The most valuable features are price, quality, and performance."
"The GUI offered by the product is good."
"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."
"I rate the support an eight out of ten since it is good."
"It's quite stable."
"The most valuable feature is the ease of setup and deployment."
"There is a clustering feature, so the APs immediately switch back to the next available controller. The users will not notice any impact and will feel connected to the network. They will not notice any disconnection."
"The firewall integration is very important for the security of the connection."
"Although there are a few steps, the initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"Having the single pane of glass, by using the Fortinet Security Fabric, allows us to tighten security, and more easily and quickly create additional VLANs to help protect data. Rules in the firewall mean we can protect data and systems so that, should anything go wrong, any security issue is held to an individual device."
"At the moment, particularly with the COVID-19 situation, the most valuable feature is probably the IPsec VPN, which is easy to implement with Fortinet."
"Security is the feature we like most from Fortinet. In general, their security architecture is really great, because it involves everything: firewalls, wireless LANs, the user. Everything is really secure."
"I use Fortinet FortiWLM for wireless communication and the internet."
"The setup was easy."
"I found that It's really good when comparing it to any other product or it is much better in terms of features that the customer requires."
 

Cons

"We do not have direct access to Aruba’s Mesh portal."
"Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is expensive."
"The initial setup is complex."
"Aruba Networks Wireless WAN could improve the solution availability. The selection of mounting hardware for the various radios is limited and poor. Often, you have to create and manufacture your own mounting hardware in certain situations."
"The only issues are the configuration problems that impact the stability of the solution."
"If they provided more updates that would be ideal."
"Deployment can take some time if you haven't planned well."
"Its technical support service could be better."
"Technical support is very poor. We are not satisfied with the technical support because there is not any direct person from Fortinet for any troubleshooting, which we expected."
"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."
"The pricing for the solution is expensive and can be improved."
"This solution should be easier to set up in a production environment."
"The initial setup is complex and has room for improvement."
"The range needs some improvement and also the stability."
"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."
"I have used Cisco previously and I don't see any specific differences from Fortinet FortiWLM or other vendors."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a costly solution."
"I rate the product's price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is the lowest ,and ten is the highest."
"The price of Aruba Networks Wireless WAN is less expensive than Ruckus and Cisco."
"The price of this solution is better than some other vendors."
"Aruba Wireless comes with the controller."
"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."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"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."
"The solution is expensive. I give the solution a one out of ten for the price."
"The price of Fortinet FortiWLM is reasonable compared to the other vendors. We are using a five-year license."
"The product is highly expensive. I rate the pricing a ten."
"Fortinet FortiWLM's pricing is regular and competitive."
"The solution is fairly priced."
"To save yourself from increased setup and maintenance costs, I highly recommend undertaking a proper site survey from the beginning."
"Licensing has become easier. There is no longer a per-AP license needed on the controller."
"If a customer already is a FortiGate customer, the cost to go to the FortiAP is incredibly affordable, because you already have the controller."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Government
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
FortiWLM, FortiAP, Fortinet AP/OAP, Meru Wireless LAN
 

Overview

 

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: December 2024.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.