We performed a comparison between Fortinet FortiWLM and Ruckus Wireless based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Wireless LAN solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."It provides private network access, helping us protect our company’s devices."
"The simplicity is great."
"Overall, we've been very pleased with the performance."
"The solution is pretty generic and easy to use."
"The solution is stable."
"The artificial intelligence feature is very good."
"You can easily monitor, manage, and cover all your IT equipment."
"The AI capabilities of Mist Wireless are superior to other OEMs."
"Seamless roaming by leveraging Virtual Cell is a major advantage which reduces roam times and issues related to roaming. Code stability has been excellent and the hardware quality is second to none."
"This is the only product on the market currently that supports as many access points for wifi users."
"The Fortinet FortiWLM system can be controlled through the cloud controller, which is convenient when the solution is not installed in our environment, as it allows us to manage the entire WiFi or access points and provides more adaptability."
"We're using SD-WAN at all of our locations now, which helps increase and aggregate and lower response time and improve application performance."
"The most valuable features are central management and the many other features available."
"We can deploy a tunnel-based VLAN and SSID, for something that happens at the last minute, in a matter of minutes, because of the interaction between the FortiGate, the FortiSwitches, and the FortiAPs."
"The most valuable feature of Fortinet FortiWLM is the single management pane and integrated controller inside the firewall."
"The most valuable features are the roaming profile, the mesh, and the performance."
"Configurations are highly customizable and we could tune easily to suit our Wi-Fi requirements."
"Valuable features include Bonjour Gateway and the hardware antenna array."
"What I like best about Ruckus Wireless is that it's a controller-based product, so it's easy to configure."
"I really like Ruckus Unleashed, which is the feature that provides a quick solution for me to control the APs."
"I haven't heard any complaints about the WiFi equipment at all causing problems."
"Ruckus Wireless is a reliable solution."
"Key features are integrated WiFi client performance tools, sophisticated user access controls, and easy and understandable controls and interfaces."
"It gives you the whole user session, and you can tell that the client connected at the traffic post."
"The product should include adaptive Wi-Fi to show a more accurate location."
"The price could be better."
"Enrolling into the tool is a tedious process."
"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."
"Juniper Wireless AP can improve by continually improving its reporting and integration with other systems."
"Improvement is needed in the user-friendliness of Juniper Mist, particularly in enhancing the interaction with AI features."
"Improving third-party integration is key for Juniper Mist's next release."
"Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points’ support services need improvement."
"The solution should improve user capacity."
"The roaming of Fortinet FortiWLM could improve when comparing it to other solutions. We are missing some of the functionality in the controller. Additionally, they should offer more logs instead of using FortiAnalyzer because all the users will not be using the same thing."
"The pricing for the solution is expensive and can be improved."
"The guest management features need to be improved by adding automation."
"The range needs some improvement and also the stability."
"When using the FortiGate as the wireless controller, you cannot have automatic user registration, which is something that they should offer."
"In the next release, they could improve by adding a controller-less server, or architecture that is provided in other solutions, such as Aruba. This would be a great benefit for customers."
"The pricing model can be improved to encourage use by small business and individuals and the hardware could stand to be redesigned."
"They need more products in the lower-end range for smaller clients."
"The solution's pricing could be cheaper."
"The cloud system from Ruckus is not mature enough just yet."
"I would like to see more location-based services on the Smart Cell Insight on access points."
"Ruckus should have an option to migrate existing licenses from an old controller to a new purchase; presently, this is not possible."
"The price could be improved."
"APs should be more adaptable to denser client regions and, most important, the logs on the ZoneDirector should be classified into groups, such as type of logs and alerts."
"We would like to see a better licensing model for our customers."
More Juniper Mist Wireless Access Points Pricing and Cost Advice →
Fortinet FortiWLM is ranked 15th in Wireless LAN with 22 reviews while Ruckus Wireless is ranked 3rd in Wireless LAN with 97 reviews. Fortinet FortiWLM is rated 8.2, while Ruckus Wireless is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of Fortinet FortiWLM writes "Impressive manufacturing quality, highly durable, and very easy to deploy". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Ruckus Wireless writes "Great wireless, good reliability, and excellent connectivity". Fortinet FortiWLM is most compared with Aruba Wireless, Cisco Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, Ubiquiti Wireless and Omada Access Points, whereas Ruckus Wireless is most compared with Aruba Wireless, Cisco Wireless, Cisco Meraki Wireless LAN, Ubiquiti WLAN and Huawei Wireless. See our Fortinet FortiWLM vs. Ruckus Wireless report.
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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.
Ruckus virtual smart zone will be your best bet allowing up to 300k connected devices and 30k access points. furthermore, Ruckus has time and again proven best in speed, throughput in high density environments by independent studies. I have over a decade of working with this product and none of the other competitors can beat the layer 1 connectivity of Ruckus WiFi
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.
Hi Imad,
Thanks for your input. Do you have any POC data for Cisco and Aruba?
Thanks in advance
Boa tarde
As soluções cada solução que você indicou tem pormenores que podem impactar tanto no funcionamento quanto em caso de disaster recovery.
Fortinet: Possui bons access points, aliado às funcionalidades de segurança do próprio UTM, porém será mais um serviço para o appliance gerenciar, e dependendo do que está rodando nele, corre-se o risco de degradar a performance da funcionalidade principal "segurança", por que tambem está gerenciando uma rede wireless, além do fato se houver alguma pane no appliance Fortinet, tanto os itens de segurança quanto a rede wireless irão ficar indisponível. Dê a Cézar o que é de Cézar, deixe a fortinet focada em segurança, que é o que ela faz de melhor.
Ruckus: Excelentes Access points, confiáveis e com alta performance, possui no mínimo 4 opções de gerência, sendo, controlerless Unleashed, appliance virtual, appliance hardware e cloud, ambas as opções não trará prejuizo à performance da rede wireless, porque não há tunelamento de dados para elas, além de possuir várias funções de segurança inerentes à rede wireless. licenças são perpétuas.
Cisco: Excelente access points, porém solução muito cara para aquisição e renovação.
Huawei: Pelo que conheço, tem bons access points, e controladoras virtuais e appliance físico, mas conheço poucas redes com esta solução.
É lógico que uma tem um recurso extra a mais do que a outra, mas considero mera perfumaria, pois o básico para uma rede wireless segura todas atendem.
Eu já atendi a mais de 40 universidades federais no Brasil, todas com Ruckus, e não há reclamação da solução.
Como recomendação pessoal, vá de Ruckus.
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