As a Network Engineer / Security Consultant I see many different types of technologies. My daily focus is operating on Fortinet hardware which enables me to see where Fortinet is really dropping the ball in regards to their technology and software. This page isn’t a knock on Fortinet or their business model etc. Instead, it should be viewed more as a recommendation from an end user that experiences daily troubles with these items. This page will be updated on a regular basis as more of these items come to mind. Take note, if it is posted here that means I have submitted the feature request or change request to Fortinet for implementation. These recommendations may or may not be considered by Fortinet since I don’t work for them directly and I don’t particularly sell a bunch of hardware by their standards (I am a service guy, I get called in when another vendor fails on a deployment).
This page overall was stagnant for over 2 years. I completely forgot it existed and that is on me. Definitely since I specifically mentioned this page would be updated with regularity.
In the initial version of this page I had two major complaints, Marketing and App Control.
My main marketing issue was that the CMO at the time quickly left (after having a good run at FireEye) so I was a little beside myself. Marketing at Fortinet has come a long ways though in the past two years under the current marketing executive Stacey Wu. Fortinet is no longer viewed as the bargain bin vendor that you buy when you don’t have enough money to purchase the premium players. The quality of the product (which has always been there) in addition to the angle taken by the marketing team has elevated the perception people hold of Fortinet. Perception is key and I feel this has been a huge win for the organization.
My main issue with App Control was the difference between how Fortinet and Palo did things. I thought Palo did it better at the time. The most recent update stated App control as a complaint may need to be removed thanks to the progress being made in the 5.6 Beta (That is how old the post was!). I am happy to say that from 5.6 on App control has come a long ways in the NGFW style approach.
The only real complaint I have at this time regarding Fortinet hardware / software is bugs. Unfortunately, this is an issue that will not go away as it plagues EVERY vendor.
Every feature request, issue, complaint, or squeak I have given Fortinet has been answered relatively quickly which is heart warming considering I don’t sell hardware. As I said, I’m a service guy.
Anyways, kudos to Fortinet for shoring up the shortcomings I originally laid out. Quality leadership does things like that! I will update this page with more items as they come up but so far life is pretty smooth sailing.