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> Chapter 8 - Deploying Wireless Networks > Introduction to wireless networking > Wireless networking equipment

Wireless networking equipment

Fortinet produces two types of wireless networking equipment:

  • FortiWiFi units, which are FortiGate units with a built-in wireless access point/client
  • FortiAP units, which are wireless access points that you can control from any FortiGate unit that supports the WiFi Controller feature.

FortiWiFi units

A FortiWiFi unit can:

  • Provide an access point for clients with wireless network cards. This is called Access Point mode, which is the default mode.

or

  • Connect the FortiWiFi unit to another wireless network. This is called Client mode. A FortiWiFi unit operating in client mode can only have one wireless interface.

or

  • Monitor access points within radio range. This is called Monitoring mode. You can designate the detected access points as Accepted or Rogue for tracking purposes. No access point or client operation is possible in this mode. But, you can enable monitoring as a background activity while the unit is in Access Point mode.

The Products section of the Fortinet web site (www.fortinet.com) provides detailed information about the FortiWiFi models that are currently available.

FortiAP units

FortiAP units are thin wireless access points are controlled by either a FortiGate unit or FortiCloud service.

FortiAP is a family of Indoor, Outdoor and Remote Access Point models supporting the latest single, dual, and triple stream MIMO 802.11ac and 802.11n technology, as well as 802.11g and 802.11a.

For large deployments, some FortiAP models support a mesh mode of operation in which control and data backhaul traffic between APs and the controller are carried on a dedicated WiFi network. Users can roam seamlessly from one AP to another.

In dual-radio models, each radio can function as an AP or as a dedicated monitor. The monitoring function is also available during AP operation, subject to traffic levels.

The Products section of the Fortinet web site (www.fortinet.com) provides detailed information about the FortiAP models that are currently available.