DX Spectrum vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

DX Spectrum
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
115
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (5th), Network Monitoring Software (20th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (24th), Network Troubleshooting (6th), DX NetOps (1st)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
35
Ranking in other categories
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (6th)
 

Featured Reviews

KN
Aug 5, 2020
A stable solution for backend application monitoring
We are a system integrator and DX Spectrum is one of the products that we implement for our clients. In conjunction with DX Infrastructure Manager (CA UIM) and DX APM, this gives our customers visibility into what is happening end-to-end in their applications Some of our customers are large banks…
Alex Kinyanjui - PeerSpot reviewer
May 24, 2024
Used for traffic devices to manage networks and create automated workflows
We identified the very important skills. This capability allows us to isolate and analyze elements that consume resources, enabling us to allocate dedicated resources. It has also allowed us to classify network devices based on their resource consumption, ensuring they don't overuse the available resources in the pool. Additionally, it helps us plan and reallocate resources for other needs. The alert system in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is effective for maintaining network stability. The solution will undergo some integration. Once you have completed the integration, you won't need to intervene frequently. You can create automated workflows to send the data to the lab, enhancing its capabilities. 64 people are needed to do maintenance within an organization for traffic analyzers. SolarWinds needs to enhance its automation. If the automation were more advanced, it would be even better. Despite this, it's still quite effective from the endpoint perspective. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Spectrum is great for root cause analysis. It has excellent correlation event management. Spectrum's stability and scalability are also amazing."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to put health checks in place not only for the infrastructure but for some of the services that are on top of the infrastructure."
"The most valuable features have been the interface and the ability to do equipment management."
"We can monitor MPLS network VPN, network configuration, and backups. It's highly scalable for network configuration management."
"Offers a lot of functionality."
"The product’s stability and robustness are valuable."
"The capability of handling and monitoring with SNMP and working with the SNMP traps is much better than other products."
"All networks (or network equipment) are monitored through CA Spectrum."
"It doesn't cost too much."
"The monitoring is perfect, showing you the details for the utilization of resources and network bandwidth."
"The performance analysis is a valuable feature. With the performance analyzer, we can see the realtime monitoring, the realtime performance, and historical performance on specific components like virtualization storage, CPU, servers and network equipment."
"The most valuable features are the bandwidth analyzer, the monitoring, the network analyzer, it has overall good performance, and an easy deployment."
"It helps us know when a branch is down because it has a graphic presentation of all the locations a node represents."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to look for any increases in bandwidth over time so that we can plan before it becomes critical."
"For stability, I would give SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer a rating of ten out of ten."
"This solution gives us important information about the utilization of protocols, particularly in terms of how often they are used."
 

Cons

"I would like to see CA move Spectrum, Performance Manager, and some of their other tools moved to a SaaS based model. You see a lot of other manufacturers which are moving toward SaaS based models."
"It doesn't really allow for multi-tenancy. If you're an ISP or an MSP and you want to use this tool to provide these types of fault management services to your customers, you would need a separate SpectroSERVER for each customer..."
"A better integration with the UIM, as far as being able to do root cause analysis and that type of analytics."
"DX Spectrum is stable. However, now and then there are some issues, but overall it is good."
"If they could interact with the MIBs of vendors better, and have a lot more pre-loaded ones, that would be amazing for us right now."
"Huawei devices are not properly supported, and there are incompatibility issues related to certain protocols."
"It takes some time to learn how to use this solution."
"The solution could improve by allowing the ability to monitor the network shortly after installing the software and adding an auto-discovery function."
"NTA's documentation for the implementation phase needs some enhancement."
"I would like to see more training videos and additional material for learning how to use this solution."
"The problem is that SolarWinds is trying to bolt in too much and that can leave bugs, which you have to then sort out, leaving the product unstable. SolarWinds needs to try and slow down and improve the stability of the product, as opposed to bringing out more and more features."
"Customer Support is quite complex."
"Technical support could be improved with quicker response times."
"I'm expecting to see a little bit more artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. They need a bit more sophistication in that."
"It can be complex to set up and configure."
"It's not a cheap product, so the pricing could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It’s a great tool, but an expensive one. Learn how to use it properly."
"DX Spectrum's pricing depends on the license number. It is affordable."
"In general, the license cost will be about 30% of the total TCO for this tool (hardware/support team, OS costs, and OS management)."
"The price is good enough to expect an ideal solution. It's expensive."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"It is expensive compared to other tools in the market."
"The price is very high."
"The product, support, and maintenance are all expensive, which is another reason that we are switching to another solution."
"We pay yearly, and we are happy with its price."
"The licensing for this solution is based on the number of nodes."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"I don't have information on the licensing cost for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer because it's bundled with another SolarWinds solution. My organization has seven different models and pays for the license yearly. My organization also had to deploy additional pollers, but the cost wasn't very expensive, though I can't give the exact numbers."
"While the pricing is fair, it could be better."
"For our environment, we pay approximately $25,000 USD yearly."
"Pricing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is very high. I have a customer that needs the solution but doesn't have the budget for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer because the problem is that you can't use the solution only. You have to buy requirements such as the SolarWinds NPM first, and some companies don't have the budget for all the required components and modules. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer can cost up to $10,000, and some customers don't have that budget. Another product has all the modules that SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer has, with a very low price, that can be a replacement, which is ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer. PRTG is another solution that can replace SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer."
"The price of this solution is exceptional."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
64%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Government
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about DX Spectrum?
The solution's most valuable features are its integration with Broadcom tools and scalability.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for DX Spectrum?
DX Spectrum's pricing depends on the license number. It is affordable.
What needs improvement with DX Spectrum?
DX Spectrum needs better documentation on its complex features.
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
The product is not too expensive. The license is renewed yearly. When it comes to support for NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, it might cost extra. Usually, we pay for support each year, and it lasts for ...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
In terms of improvement, it can be complex to set up and configure, and the user guides provided can also be complex, especially when dealing with certain configuration aspects. Improved SQL capabi...
 

Also Known As

CA Spectrum
Netflow Traffic Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Informatics Centre India, Banese, Olympus, AlphaServe Technologies, Sicredi
Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori
Find out what your peers are saying about DX Spectrum vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: February 2023.
787,061 professionals have used our research since 2012.