Fortinet FortiGate Cloud Reviews

The solution is primarily used for firewalls, border protection, and network gateway protection.

It's a UTM solution. It covers layer four to layer seven in terms of firewall functionality. It doesn't only cover the network. It also covers application cases. 

It also has an IPS module. It has an anti-malware module. Usually, customers can extend the license, and they can have Fortinet agents which will help them enforce the policies also when they are outside the network. 

It's a comprehensive solution compared to other solutions.

The initial setup is relatively easy.

Maybe the upgrades could be a little bit easier, especially when customers don't upgrade in a long time. When there is a gap like that, you have to follow a strict path of upgrading, which does not always run smoothly. 

In the email security modules they have in their UTM, maybe they can include more extended or expanded features for the email security where users can have their own portal login to release blocked emails, as an example. Currently, the UTM will only have basic email security.

We've used the solution for seven years, as a partner, as a reseller, not as an end user.

The solution is stable. It's reliable, and the performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

It's scalable up to a limit. You have to do sizing correctly. If the sizing is correct, then there are no issues; however, if not, then in some cases, you need to replace all the hardware in order to scale to the next level.

Some environments have only 20 users, and other environments where there are 5,000 users. The number of users varies from client to client.

We have had interaction with technical support.

They're good if you have the correct support package. They have two support packages. They have eight by five and they have 24 by seven. As long as you have the right support package, then you'll find the support process very easy and helpful. Otherwise, you have to match your time with their time and sometimes they will not go the extra mile if the package or the service you bought is limited.

The solution is very easy to implement. It's not complex at all. 

The implementation strategy usually depends on the customer. It varies from customer to customer, depending on the requirements. That said, usually, it shouldn't take more than a couple of days.

Usually, first, we have to collect feedback or collect requirements from customers in terms of the different networks that they have, the policies, the allowed protocols, the disallowed protocols, the allowed content, the blocked content, et cetera. We will get, from the customer, a unique account for Active Directory, which is required for the user's onboarding. After we do the physical implementation, we start by implementing the policy and building out the policies. First, we will test them out during off-business hours. Then, if everything is working as expected, we move it to production, and customers can start using it.

One person is all you need to handle deployment and maintenance. 

Our clients have seen an ROI from using this solution. 

It's moderately priced. It's in the middle of the market. It was not very expensive. However, it is also not the cheapest option.

There are extra costs if you need extended things added to the license. For example, if you need some cloud logging or premium support, for example. All these come at an extra charge.

We are the partner for Fortinet, and we sell their products. 

We are not using it for our own network.

We tend to deal with the latest version of the solution. 

In most cases, we deploy on-prem. We have one or two cases only in the cloud. However, most cases are on-prem.

My advice would be mainly to first have proper data gathering from customers before implementing. As part of the data gathering, a company needs to include some facts regarding the utilization network and the sizing. You need to get sizing correct from the outset and should plan to have room for an extra 30% increase in the future.

I would rate the solution nine out of ten. 

The FortiCloud is being used as a security fabric. It provides insights into the overall activity at the locations which we have deployed. We are in around 30 to 40 locations which we manage over a cloud. Managing is very simple via Fortinet, which really is a value-add to our technology - at least, the infrastructure portion, the management part. 

If you compare the manageability part with Palo Alto, the access via the GUI is very fast in Fortinet, as compared to Palo Alto. In Palo Alto, when saving any configuration, it takes two to three minutes of time while committing the configuration. In Fortinet, it is just a click and it just gets saved.

The intel we get from Fortinet is its most valuable aspect.

The solution could add load balancing and QS features at an application level. In Fortinet, they don't have application-level visibility as we have in Palo Alto. That is something Fortinet can improve on, the application-level visibility.

The SSL visibility could be better. The content which is encrypted, if they can add an encryption engine, which can check the traffic of SCTPS and do the analysis and the threat filtering, or the URL filtering, in the content, that would be ideal. That way, we don't have to purchase another separate product, like Content Peeper, or other products that do dedicated SSL filtering.

I'd like application-side reporting, for example, who are the top 10 users, what users are using what. 

In terms of the complexity, if they integrate and give the track-to reporting to management, that will be a great feature for a future release.

The scalability depends on the sizing. You need to ask: who is the system engineer who is sizing for the customer? For example, if you are the customer and you have a 50 user setup, and the system engineer is proposing a 30E, that may not be a good or an ideal model for 50 users. A 40F would likely be better, as, when we enable UTM, it will enable all the functionality and all the engines will get started, and it will get used. The CPU processing will get distributed among all the services, and then performance may be spread across as well. That's why, while doing the sizing, I would suggest that any system engineer sizes a little bit on the higher side so that, even if the user count goes up, or if the customer plans for scaling, then that won't be a challenge for near future.

For us, the majority of the customers are on Fortinet. A majority of the other customers are on Sophos, and a few customers are on Palo Alto. Most of the enterprise customers are on Palo Alto. Most of the SMB customers are on Fortinet.

The support is quite good. It depends upon the scope. If it's something implementation-based, they won't entertain you. However, if the issue is critical, then they will definitely help. Support is good. Fortinet has good support for India. I have no complaints.

We're also familiar with Palo Alto and Check Point. It's easier to manage or configure, as compared to Palo Alto or Check Point.

The deployment depends upon the requirements. Generally, if there is a standalone infrastructure, and someone wants to configure Fortinet, then it shouldn't take more than one day. However, if you have multi-locations, there might be multiple dependencies or local issues and other stuff, and the configurations may be different. There may be some pools that need to get access from this to that. That might take a few more days. That said, from an implementation aspect, Fortinet implementation is much easier as compared to Palo Alto.

How many people you need for maintenance depends on the nature of the business. For example, in banking, you need 24/7 uptime. You need at least one engineer in a shift to manage the Fortinet devices. Otherwise, two engineers are enough - one for deployment, and the same person can also manage the firewall. Therefore, one to two engineers are more than enough to manage firewalls, Fortinet, the traffic, and to do whitelisting, blacklisting, et cetera. They can do the troubleshooting part and open the ports according to the application requirements.

It is better to have a partner who knows the best practices in order to deploy everything properly. You need someone who can do the staging part, who can do the configuration part, who understands the basic things as well as be able to handle more difficult use cases. It is better to take a help of a partner or integrator.

I've definitely seen an ROI.

In terms of pricing, if it is a cloud subscription, then I prefer to go with the yearly subscription - if you don't have to scale much. However, when you're planning for on-prem devices, then you should go for a three-year license.

There's extra pricing for the UTM and the hardware cost. For a UTM license, they charge an extra fee.

We're using the latest version of the solution.

I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.

We are using Fortinet FortiGate Cloud mainly for a file server at the office, and we have some services that transfer some applications remotely. We are using the firewall to secure the connection to our offices, for the internet connection, and for the applications using the VPN connections.

We have found the most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud are the firewall and the VPN connection manager. I am not worried about any cyber attacks, the solution is secure and I receive daily summary reports.

I have used Fortinet FortiGate Cloud within the last 12 months.

The solution has been highly reliable.

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is scalable.

I rate the scalability of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud a five out of five.

We were using the solution more but since the Coronavirus and other political circumstances in Lebanon, we have downsized the company. We had approximately 25 users using the solution but it has been reduced to only three users.

I have stopped the support contract because I never used it for five years. I never faced any issue that requires support.  Any issues I had it was easy to handle myself. The solution is very reliable.

When I started my job at the company, they had a Juniper firewall, but it was out of warranty and out of contract. While researching, I found the Fortinet FortiGate Cloud, and I read some good reviews about it which were good and this is why I selected it.

For a system administrator, the initial setup is straightforward. I didn't face any issue configuring it. It was so easy. There are videos and tutorials, which helps a lot.

It took one hour for the installation at the cabinet and the wiring, approximately five hours for the full configuration for the VPN tunneling, and subnetting the IP.

I did the implementation and maintenance myself. 

The price of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is affordable. However, lowering the price would be good for the end-users. The cost of the solution was approximately $800 per year. There are some additional features you can add in addition to the regular features.

I would advise others to purchase this solution because it's reliable and it's worth every dollar.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate Cloud a nine out of ten.

We use the solution to protect our office facilities. We have it deployed on a couple of hundred devices and we have about 30 users. We are customers of Fortinet and I'm the CEO. 

The solution offers very good network performance and efficiency.

We had a problem with external attacks in the previous solution we were using so I'd always like to see additional security around that problem. 

I've been using this solution for six months. 

The solution is very stable. 

Fortinet has very comprehensive documentation, so we haven't communicated with technical support. 

The initial setup is relatively straightforward and took us a couple of days. We did it ourselves and once it was up and running, everything went smoothly. 

We pay a one-off licensing fee and an installation license. It's all-inclusive. 

We introduced FortiGate to our customers because we know it works properly and our customers are satisfied with it. We don't have any concerns about the product. 

I rate the solution nine out of 10. 

Our use cases are twofold, being to secure our own company network and to create an offering for our end customers. 

We like the availability of the hardware and the service that we get from FortiGate, as well as the kind of reach that they have as a part of their sales folks. We are also pleased with their responsiveness. These are the parameters by which we rate our partners. 

The world is moving towards everything being software defined. This is an issue which should be addressed. Things are also moving increasingly towards hardware agnostic appliances, an area in which I would like Fortinet to be more focused and fast moving with that product line. 

I will leave it to the OEM to decide which additional features should be included, because everything is available to them, in as much as the way the market is moving and the types of features the competition is offering. The Fortinet people are in a better position than I to determine which features they want to bring in the lower end modules available from their product portfolio.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate Cloud for around a year-and-a-half.

So far, we have not faced any challenges with the stability and are pretty happy with the device's performance. It accomplishes many things and is working very well. 

While it is difficult for me to address the scalability, this may become an issue in light of the trend for things to move towards being software defined. I have no doubt this will require work to mitigate this issue. From the perspective of scalability, the throughput number of concurrent users are already redefined. Because of the obvious challenges, it would not be possible for us to scale up with the same underlying hardware. However, there are multiple models which exist in the hierarchy. There may be a need to first upgrade when those requirements will need to be filtered.

The limitation is on the hardware, which will eventually have to go once installation becomes completely virtual. 

I do not have any issues with technical support. So far, everything has been up to snuff.

Our use of the solution was a greenfield project for us.

When it comes to the initial setup, I have found Fortinet products to be quite easy.

Deployment is easy. The endpoints are modular and the installation pretty straightforward. Most devices come with a graphical user interface. It is GUI and is pretty easy to configure and deploy.

The pricing is competitive. I am satisfied with it and consider it reasonable. 

While I prefer not to provide names, we did evaluate Fortinet with a couple of other OEMs. Technically, they were also on par with the kind of services offered by Fortinet. For us, key considerations centered on the responsiveness, the cost strain and the availability of the infrastructure that was provided.

I would recommend the solution to someone who is looking for a faster, more responsive, cost competitive and agile delivery for the equipment. In this geography hierarchy, the sales team is pretty much geared up to support you. 

The priorities can vary from one organization to the next. Based on those that we set for ourselves, we felt our needs to be met and this is why we chose to go with the solution. 

I rate Fortinet FortiGate Cloud as a seven out of ten. 

We primarily use the solution for firewalls and VPN only.

It's easy to use. There are no specific features that stand out as such, based on my experience. I don't interact with these tools. My job is to just identify a product and get it deployed.

Technical support is good.

The solution is stable.

So far, it's been serving all the required purposes. We've not seen any areas for improvement. No missing features come to mind right now. 

I've been using the solution for more than five years. 

The stability is great. There are no bugs or glitches. It was reliable. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

We haven't had to scale yet. I'm not sure how scalable the solution is. 

We have a small deployment of about 1,200 users. It's all at the engineering level.  

I've been in touch with technical support. They are good. We are satisfied with support. 

Positive

We use CrowdStrike Falcon and FortiGate.

I'm not sure if we have used anything before this solution. 

I'm not the end user for these tools. However, I do know about the deployment. It's easy to set up and not complex at all. It takes three to four days. 

The deployment was handled by three people. 

I don't handle the licensing. I can't speak to the cost of the product.

We are engineering partners with Fortinet.

We're using the latest version of the solution. It was recently patched. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

I would recommend the solution to other users and companies. 

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is used primarily for network and application protection.

The most valuable features of Fortinet FortiGate Cloud are ease of use and the simplicity of maintenance and configuration. Additionally, the modularity of the solution is very easy to handle, it is convenient.

I have been using Fortinet FortiGate Cloud for one year and a half.

I have found Fortinet FortiGate Cloud to be highly stable.

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is scalable.

We have approximately 1,000 users that use the solution in my organization.

Fortinet FortiGate Cloud's initial configuration is very straightforward. After the deployment, it does not take more than a week to have it fully configured and in production.

We needed to do some training to be able to implement Fortinet FortiGate Cloud and after the training, we did the implementation in-house.

We are not measuring the return of investment (ROI) from a specific point of view, because we are using it in the information technology area. We are not selling services through this particular security element, we don't have that measure at this moment, but from our point of view, the ROI is fine. 

The license for Fortinet FortiGate Cloud is annual.

I rate Fortinet FortiGate Cloud an eight out of ten.

FortiGate Cloud is used for larger organizations that have their services in the cloud.

It is necessary to have FortiGate Cloud if you want to protect Azure resources.

The most effective features for managing cyber threats are IPS and application control.

All Fortinet products have many security flaws, and new versions often have large security holes. The integration process takes a long time for failovers between firewalls since it uses the Azure API. The initial setup is also considered to be difficult.

I have worked with FortiGate products for maybe ten years and with the cloud version for one year.

The technical support is not very good. It suffers from overall competence issues and a lack of language proficiency. 

Neutral

I have tried Azure Firewall. It is extremely overpriced and does not have all the management features FortiGate has. I have dealt with other competitors in the past and am now focusing just on Fortinet Security Solutions.

In the past, I have worked with Cisco, Juniper, Palo Alto and am currently focused on Fortinet.

The initial setup was difficult due to differences in handling network management between Azure and on-premises solutions.

I deployed it myself, but I had some colleagues I could ask questions.

The pricing is on par with other cloud providers. FortiGate Cloud is priced similarly to other providers, however, we still need FortiManager and FortiAnalyzer.

Fortinet products are just as good as any other competitor, with better management capabilities. It is easier to set up a Fortinet solution than Cisco, Juniper, or Palo Alto.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.