Fortigate vs Cisco ASA

[jkaftan <jkaftan () UTICA EDU>]

We are about to embark and a firewall project and are looking at the
Fortigate and the Cisco ASA.  Can anyone relate their experience with either
product?

I like the flexibility we can get with the Fortigate.  It has virtual
domains, 12 ports, and it can do a variety of things e.g. IPS, AV,
anti-spam, content filtering and policy based routing.

The ASA can either do IPS or the AV, Anti-Spam content filtering but not
both.  The Fortigate is software based and the ASA is ASIC based.  The
Fortigate will slow down as you add functionality and the ASA will not.  If
the Fortigate is sized properly the slowing down won't be an issue.