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Cisco Wireless vs Fortinet FortiWLM comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 31, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.0
Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points' support is praised for responsiveness and knowledge, though some report occasional slower response times.
No sentiment score available
No sentiment score available
Fortinet FortiWLM customer service receives mixed reviews, praising 24/7 support but noting average response times and frequent escalations.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
8.3
Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points need enhanced features, better integration, improved security, adaptive connectivity, and simplified processes for market success.
No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
3.9
Fortinet FortiWLM needs enhanced management features, user interface improvements, better support, integration, and more client-friendly pricing policies.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points are praised for their seamless scalability, supporting thousands across industries, simplifying cloud-based expansions.
No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.0
Fortinet FortiWLM is highly scalable, supporting thousands of connections across diverse sectors and integrating well with infrastructures.
 

Setup Cost

No sentiment score available
Juniper Mist pricing is higher but justified by advanced features; varies by scale, sometimes cheaper than Cisco, pricier than Fortinet.
No sentiment score available
No sentiment score available
Fortinet FortiWLM offers reasonable pricing with straightforward licensing, though enterprise and RMA-related costs could improve.
Juniper Mist is cheaper than Meraki, placing it in the middle of the pack.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points are praised for exceptional stability, reliability, and quick performance, even without cloud connectivity.
No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.5
Fortinet FortiWLM is highly stable, consistently reliable, and praised by users for minimal issues and swift resolutions.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.5
Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points provide AI-driven network management, offering easy setup, centralized control, and enhanced user experience.
No sentiment score available
Sentiment score
8.4
Fortinet FortiWLM provides centralized management, scalability, security integration, and efficient control with user-friendly interfaces and robust performance.
It's a cloud solution with Mist, which helps troubleshoot and provides visibility to look at different access points.
 

Categories and Ranking

Juniper Mist Wireless Acces...
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Ranking in Wireless LAN
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Cisco Wireless
Ranking in Wireless LAN
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
150
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Fortinet FortiWLM
Ranking in Wireless LAN
15th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Wireless LAN category, the mindshare of Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points is 5.6%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Wireless is 12.5%, down from 16.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortinet FortiWLM is 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Wireless LAN
 

Q&A Highlights

SS
Feb 08, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

Gyan Sharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers good performance, good solution and smooth implementation
I do have a suggestion: it would be helpful to have even stronger security features to help protect against interference from other nearby access points that aren't part of our network. If there are access points from other brands installed nearby; they can cause interference and disrupt the range of our Mist access points. So, the security features could be stronger, especially in terms of authentication. The connectivity is excellent, but security needs improvement. In future releases, integrating more AI features would be beneficial. If Mist had stronger AI features, it could provide better security against network threats and cyberattacks. So, this solution still needs to improve its AI capabilities. It would be great if the AI could improve the range of the access points, and auto-protect functionality should be there to avoid interference by other nearby access points and enhance threat detection. In the future, I'd like to see stronger threat detection features integrated with Mist, as well as better detection of nearby access points that might cause interference.
Michael Lees - PeerSpot reviewer
Affordable, resilient, and performs better than other solutions in the market
Assurance capabilities must be improved. There should be more Assurance features on the Wireless LAN Controller. A lot of it is bundled into the DNA Center. Having a little more Assurance regarding what the RF Spectrum looks like will be good. Juniper Mist has a lot of analytical data on the dashboard. The customers would be compelled to look at DNA Center as a longer-term and more comprehensive solution if Cisco were to give them an insight into some of the Assurance capabilities that might be available in DNA Center. The tool must provide something like RF Neighbor. It must enable organizations to receive signal strength and signal-to-noise ratio and see how clients perform in their wireless network. It must have a cap. If we want additional functionality to see our entire network, that's where DNA Center fits in.
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.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Wireless LAN solutions are best for your needs.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user212721 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 24, 2015
Cisco vs. Aruba Wireless Solutions
Cisco or Aruba Networks? If you are considering wireless access solutions, this is a common question that you are probably asking. You probably have sales people knocking at your door. How do you make sense of all the stories that you are presented with. If you have done any research, you are…
 

Answers from the Community

SS
Feb 8, 2021
Feb 8, 2021
All are good selections, and this question is difficult to answer without knowing your throughput requirements, as each vendor has multiple models within there series. Personally I recommend looking at Arista Networks’ cognitive Wifi, where controllers are a thing of the past.
2 out of 7 answers
AT
Feb 17, 2020
Hi, It is all dependent on the size of the controllers in question. Though I would suggest getting a cloud base technology so you are limited by any controller and have much better redundancy. Take a look at Arista Cognitive Wireless
IA
Feb 17, 2020
Hi, Every one of the mentioned solutions is good but you need to check the needs which are security since the firms you are working with need protection and tracking of data. For this reason, I recommend: - if you have FortiGate installed then go for Fortinet Wireless since they can be integrated with the Fortigate without buying a controller and they work perfectly together and you will get the advantage of applying rules to the client himself whether mobile or computer, easily managed & monitored, more visibility over your network and incident notifications. If the above doesn't apply then you can go with the best one that fits your budget and security needs which for me doesn't fall on the mentioned solution but to go with ARUBA Instant Access Wireless Solution and the reasons are as such: - Cisco is too much expensive and you got to pay smart support with some complexity in configuration and you need to buy a controller - Ruckus is good but when you want to have the security you need to buy a controller with licenses and it won't give you the security needed since it is just a wireless solution - Huawei is not a stable company since it had many ups and downs and they can reach with you to have all the solutions nearly free so that you install their brand. Whereas Aruba you don't need a controller in the Instant access points and you will get the minimum security with radius integration and what is important a lifetime warranty on the access points. In addition, if the number of access points increased and you want more detailed management and more advanced configurations, you can buy a controller either on-premises or on-cloud with Aruba. The above information is based on my experience with all the solutions and their POC. If you need any more details and consultancy, kindly feel free to contact me. Regards.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Educational Organization
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series)?
If a customer has a budget of around five lakhs in Indian currency, they can afford Juniper products. But for a new c...
What needs improvement with Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series)?
HP recently acquired Juniper, and I'm not happy about that. Juniper is a brand, and HP acquired them because of Junip...
Which is better - Cisco Wireless or Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco Wireless is very robust, very rugged, and can handle indoor and outdoor coverage extremely well. We found it to...
Which is better - Ruckus Wireless or Cisco Wireless?
Ruckus Wireless offers users the benefit of being both easy to set up and get running as well as being very user frie...
How does Cisco Wireless compare with Aruba Wireless?
On the most basic level, Cisco Wireless can offer a rather straightforward initial setup. In the span of about three ...
 

Also Known As

Juniper Wireless Access Points (AP Series), Mist Access Points
Cisco WLAN Controller
FortiWLM, FortiAP, Fortinet AP/OAP, Meru Wireless LAN
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Aegean Motorway, Baylor Scott & White Health, Beachbody, Bellevue, Brunel University London, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Chartwell School, Children's Hospital Colorado, Cisco Live Milan, City of Biel, City of Mississauga, Dundee Precious Metals, Electricity Authority of Cyprus, Erickson Living, Goldcorp, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Grupo Industrial Saltillo (GIS)
Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Wireless vs. Fortinet FortiWLM and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.