{"id":689,"date":"2018-10-11T11:07:01","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T15:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/badger-fi.com\/?p=689"},"modified":"2018-10-11T11:07:01","modified_gmt":"2018-10-11T15:07:01","slug":"from-the-edge-to-the-air-fortinets-full-stack-end-to-end-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.badger-fi.com\/?p=689","title":{"rendered":"From the Edge to the Air, Fortinet’s Full Stack End to End Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

As much as I hate to admit it, Fortinet is more<\/em> than just “those guys who bought Meru.”\u00a0 In fact they are way more than just a wireless company.\u00a0 As we already know, Fortinet is best known in the industry as a security company with a rock solid reputation.\u00a0 The truth is, Fortinet is a true end to end solution, beginning with their FortiGate, moving through their switching, and into their wifi.<\/p>\n

Fortinet’s wireless solution is\u00a0 broken into three distinct management platforms; FortiGate, FortiCloud, and controller (WLC).\u00a0 Check out one of my blog posts from earlier in the year where I broke down the differences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Until recently I had been mostly unfamiliar with anything but the controller solution which is built on the legacy Meru product.\u00a0 As most of you already know I have an affinity for the FortiRu product line which goes beyond the controversial Single Channel Architecture.\u00a0 The hardware is rock solid and it seems as though their code is a lot less buggy than what I hear from customers of other vendors.\u00a0 The cloud managed solution also seems to be a very viable solution as it chugs along in the lab at my house.\u00a0 This is of course a far cry from a true enterprise deployment but from what I know it seems to be reliable.\u00a0Compared to other cloud managed competitors who have been around awhile, the one downside to Fortinet’s cloud managed solution is it could stand to be somewhat more intuitive during configuration.\u00a0 In Fortinet’s defense, it is hard to stay unique, not re-invent the wheel, and yet remain intuitive in an already saturated cloud managed playing field.\u00a0 The third management option is via a FortiGate.\u00a0 In all honestly, I have not tried this method before so I shouldn’t comment until I am more familiar.\u00a0 I have been graciously provided a FortiGate 81E as well as FortiSwitch 108E to check out but haven’t had the time to dive in yet.<\/p>\n

Those who aren’t familiar with Fortinet should pay very close attention to their licensing platform.\u00a0 Aside from a select few products, THERE ISN’T ONE!\u00a0 You don’t need to sift through confusing price lists to find licensing for APs, firewall features, etc because there are no additional licenses required to operate the equipment you bought!\u00a0 If there is one thing that sticks in the craw of IT professionals these days, it is licensing that needs to be considered for what seems like every single feature\/widget that comes with “Box X.”\u00a0 Not only do you have to think about the confusing and cumbersome licensing when you purchase “Box X,” you have to deal with it each time those licenses come up for renewal.\u00a0 Not with Fortinet!\u00a0 Reliable hardware, mostly stable code, and no licensing should move Fortinet onto your short list for consideration the next time you are evaluating equipment for your next purchase, and give you comfort in it’s potential to be a that true end to end solution.<\/p>\n

Check out the following videos from our visit with Fortinet at MFD3 below.<\/p>\n