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Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access vs Ruckus Wireless comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secu...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
Ethernet Switches (5th)
Ruckus Wireless
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Wireless LAN (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Enterprise Networking solutions, they serve different purposes. Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is designed for Ethernet Switches and holds a mindshare of 6.2%, up 6.1% compared to last year.
Ruckus Wireless, on the other hand, focuses on Wireless LAN, holds 14.3% mindshare, up 11.2% since last year.
Ethernet Switches
Wireless LAN
 

Featured Reviews

SherifAbdelrahman - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 11, 2024
Efficient integration allows streamlined network management with a straightforward setup
I use it for retail business. We are using the FortiSwitch solution for our voice switches and access points as well It has helped us by providing easy management from a single platform through the firewall interface. It's very easy to manage and provides all the insights and vulnerabilities,…
Sachin Vinay - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 25, 2022
Great wireless, good reliability, and excellent connectivity
We have an enterprise wireless solution with multiple vendor access points deployed across buildings and have implemented 802.1x authentication with dynamic VLANs. We have more than 100 Ruckus devices with Wpa2 enterprise authentication mode, and requests are getting authenticated from our NPS…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This device is easy to use."
"The solution is very simple, and it's very easily available."
"Ability to manage FortiAP, FortiClient, and FortiGate all from a single console"
"What I actually use in this deployment are Forti APs (Fortinet Access Points). So, I can see all my office infrastructure from a single console, which is handy. One FortiGate, one FortiSwitch, and five access points, everything under good control. It's really nice to see it all together like this."
"Deploying the solution is a breeze, even a novice can do it."
"Stability and scalability for this product are very good. Setup is easy and deployment can be completed within minutes. The technical support for Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access is good."
"The product is very secure."
"It is very user-friendly. There is no need to use command lines to configure it or to do anything in it. You hardly use command lines, which makes it different from Cisco. In Cisco, the CLI is your best friend. Fortinet has the lowest TCO, so you can use its integrated components without having to buy additional licenses. They provide centralized management without needing to buy or acquire additional licenses. You have an integral or complete vision through a single pane of glass, and you can see everything from one single console without having to buy additional licenses, which is a plus. It works the same way when you add wireless. You can see everything from FortiGate. It has a security processor, which is another plus. It does not have a standard desktop processor. It has a multi-threat security processor, and it is built by Fortinet. So, all the components that you include in a Fortinet solution are proprietary and work in an integral way. It has one single solution, whereas other brands, such as Palo Alto and Check Point, have been acquiring certain solutions, and they're not fully integrated. With Fortinet, everything is integrated. If you start building on Fortinet, everything that you expand to the local LAN or WAN is integrated. You don't have to pay for professional services and other things to do that. Their technical information is also very good. Most of their information is based on how-to, and it can be found online, which is something my clients like."
"It's stable."
"The biggest advantages of Ruckus Wireless are pricing and support."
"The list of options you have is great: throttling guest networks, the controller dashboards for administration, on-the-fly configuring, settings, hours of use."
"The product can scale."
"Comprehensive availability and performance of monitoring and reporting for WISP network monitor."
"Its roaming capabilities and the fact that we can have redundant backup controllers are the most valuable. There is a backup controller that is heart beated to the primary. It is also fairly easy to install."
"At times of heavy network congestion, we can restrict the bandwidth available to clients either by SSID or at the client level, which helps cut down on our bandwidth costs."
"It's very scalable."
 

Cons

"The product's pricing needs improvement for small and medium businesses."
"We had experienced downtime. I would like to see it to be improved."
"One of the main challenges was integrating FortiSwitch with FortiGate, as the switches are managed through FortiGate rather than independently."
"It could be simpler but compared to the competition, it's not so bad."
"They could provide integration with Fortinet Authenticator."
"Technical support needs to take a different approach and pricing should appear more competitive."
"It is always nice when something is cheaper."
"The solution could provide an active VPN."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"Ruckus is a bad solution in general. It's pretty old and outdated."
"The cost could be slightly improved. It's not on the low end, and it's not in the high end. It's in that middle area, which can be a deciding factor between someone going with this solution versus another one."
"Wi-Fi 6E and the cloud are areas with shortcomings in the solution that need improvement."
"I suggest more controlling features on the controller. The menu of the performance must be improved, as well."
"While the Virtual SmartZone appliance has improved in the last few years, it isn’t without issue and the performance of the Web page leaves something to be desired."
"The solution is sensitive with reference to power fluctuations. This sensitivity should be improved. Additionally, the solution should have more security features integrated."
"Their support has been lacking a little bit and needs to be improved. I have had a ticket open for a month, and it is really hard to get a resolution out of them. They haven't really come out with anything that is much of an improvement in a long time. It has mostly just been fixes and things like that. We used to have a ZoneDirector or a physical controller for the wireless network, and that was kind of end of life. It was very old, and at the time, we were expanding the wireless network, and we didn't want to rely on one piece of hardware that was pretty old. So, we went to SmartZone Cluster, which has two VMs in a cluster. Unfortunately, we lost the feature ability for guest networks and other things that we were using before, and Ruckus just kind of told us that they weren't supporting that feature in the newer product, which is not really great. I was told initially that SmartZone was an upgrade to ZoneDirector. It is the logical thing to think that it is going to have all the same features, but it didn't. The issue that we have right now is onboarding BYOD devices. It is not really great for us, and we're looking for a new product to make that easier. We did have Cloudpath, which was a product that Ruckus purchased from another company that was an onboarding solution, but it just didn't really work very well for us. So, we discontinued using it, and it actually created more confusion for people. They should make BYOD or guest network portals a lot easier and better. In some areas, we have been having issues because there are just so many WAPs that are so close that we had to manually turn down the radio of power because the automatic feature of the AP wasn't really doing it right. It should also have a little bit better RF analysis capability to be able to see on the controller side. The front end for our staff, students, and guests has also not been quite as good as we had hoped."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive but overall the cost makes sense."
"Licensing is easy: FortiCare and that's it."
"The pricing is cheap and only a yearly licensing cost needs to be paid."
"We have to pay for the solution's subscription."
"The price of the solution could improve, it is expensive."
"Licensing is billed annually and contracts are either one or three years in length."
"We have to renew and pay for the licenses."
"The solution has reasonable pricing. The firewall costs around 500$ annually."
"It's a lot more expensive."
"The price could be better. Normally, if you find customers paying for cost-effective wireless solutions, Ruckus devices are a little expensive compared to other vendors."
"The tool’s pricing is competitive with other alternative solutions’ pricing."
"The price is reasonable."
"We have a yearly license for our multiple mode 200 or 300 Ruckus Wireless systems. It's a good price."
"It depends on the client. You have an initial license cost that you need to buy to bind the access point with the controller. This is a one-time fee. You also have to pay the support fee that, if I remember correctly, is about $25 per access point. Its pricing and licensing can be improved."
"Ruckus Wireless is available at a reasonable price"
"It is a pricey solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which would you choose - Fortinet Fortiswitch secure access or Cisco Ethernet Switches?
We researched Cisco but ultimately chose Fortinet FortiSwitch Secure Access, mostly because of the price. Fortinet FortiSwitch is an ethernet switch solution that provides security and performance...
What do you like most about Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access?
With FortiSwitch, you can easily identify who is connected to each port, disable ports as needed, and retrieve configurations from FortiGate when required.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortinet FortiSwitch - Secure Access?
The product pricing seems to be mid-range. The licensing structure is not uniform and can be difficult to understand. I rate the pricing around five or six out of ten.
Aruba Wireless or Ruckus Wireless?
At my organization, we researched Ruckus Wireless among other solutions but ultimately chose Aruba wireless. What did we like about Ruckus? First, it was very easy to use, and anybody with minimal...
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 friendly. This user-friendly quality also renders it easy to learn how to use and ma...
How does Ruckus Wireless compare to Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN?
Cisco’s Meraki Virtual MX is a virtual instance of the Meraki SD-WAN appliance. We liked the Meraki. The Wifi APs are a great feature. The dashboard is a simple interface and easy to learn. It feat...
 

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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Black Gold Regional Schools, Amadeus Hospitality, Jefferson County, Chunghwa Telecom, City of Boroondara, Dimension Data
American University of Sharjah, Baruch College, Centro Escolar Liceo Santo Tomšs, Chevalier College, Chico Unified School District, Colegio de Fomento El Prado, Columbia Public Schools, Delta School District, Dordt College, Douglas County School District, Drew University, Armonea, Central Utah Clinic, Grove Hill Medical Center, Inner South Community Health Service, Midwest Surgical, Satilla Regional Medical Center, Lyndoch Living, Polonus, Roaring Fork School District, Sonora State, Vivid, Sydney, Players Club, Sandals, Scandic Hotels, Sheraton LAX, Sunbird
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, HPE Aruba Networking, Ubiquiti Networks and others in Ethernet Switches. Updated: November 2024.
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