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Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista vs Aruba Airwave comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
8.2
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista offers a reliable, robust solution with significant ROI despite being somewhat expensive.
Sentiment score
5.8
Aruba Airwave provides long-term ROI with efficient troubleshooting, significant cost savings, and improved productivity despite initial hardware costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.1
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista's support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, with some suggesting room for improvement and additional integration.
Sentiment score
6.4
Aruba Airwave technical support is praised for effective service, knowledgeable staff, and multilingual communication, despite occasional slower responses.
I would rate their technical support as a nine or ten, as it's quite good.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Angie was very kind and communicated well in both Spanish and English, making it pleasant to connect with her.
TI at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista is scalable, supporting numerous access points, though additional licenses and equipment may be needed for expansion.
Sentiment score
7.0
Aruba Airwave is scalable, supporting different user counts and environments, often used with Cisco tools, rated highly for scalability.
Aruba Airwave gives good information about SNR value, signal value, and you can get extensive information.
Senior Network Consultant at Data Market
Aruba Airwave is fully scalable, as we have a large number of tenants using the network with approximately six thousand end users.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.8
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista is highly rated for its stability and performance, with users praising its robust support and reliability.
Sentiment score
7.6
Aruba Airwave is stable, reliable, and highly rated, with minor manageable issues during high usage and integration.
As it is centralized, sometimes it disconnects from the cloud, and I need to reboot.
Server Administrator at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
I have found Aruba Airwave to be stable.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista requires better AI, machine learning, reporting, WiFi visibility, cybersecurity, user role modification, and cost-effective support.
Aruba Airwave requires cost reduction, system integration, UI simplification, pricing changes, and better synchronization, support, and compatibility.
The end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
I find the price of Aruba Central compared to Aruba Airwave to be more expensive.
Senior Network Consultant at Data Market
When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Setup Cost

Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista offers competitive pricing with a cost-effective perpetual license, appealing to enterprises despite higher setup costs.
Aruba Airwave licensing is seen as complex and costly, yet often cheaper than Cisco, with variable pricing flexibility.
The pricing for Aruba Airwave is acceptable because compared to Cisco, it's slightly cheaper, but not significantly - maybe 5% or 7% less expensive.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
 

Valuable Features

Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista provides comprehensive network management with features like monitoring, analytics, scalability, and user-friendly command line tools.
Aruba Airwave provides multivendor support, robust reporting, real-time analysis, and easy network management with zero-touch provisioning and Visual RF.
Aruba Airwave provides good visibility, offering extensive data on network dynamics, such as access point connections, usage, signal strengths, and potential interference from neighboring Wi-Fi networks.
Executive at a government with 201-500 employees
It provides near real-time monitoring using AIMON and AURO protocols, which is robust with multiple models and brand support.
TI at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
The feature that proved most beneficial for our organization's network monitoring is the virtual four, which we use frequently when working with Aruba.
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
 

Categories and Ranking

Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista
Ranking in Network Management Applications
15th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Aruba Airwave
Ranking in Network Management Applications
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista is 1.7%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 4.0%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Aruba Airwave4.0%
Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista1.7%
Other94.3%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

John Mark - PeerSpot reviewer
IT network admin at a hospitality company with 501-1,000 employees
An unified solution best suited for network management and connectivity
The support of Omnivista could be better. It's very expensive because it requires a subscription for support, and the licenses are proprietary. If you want to scale or expand your operation by adding more WiFi access points, you have to buy another license. The web-based interface of OmniVista is user-friendly, but for some administrative tasks and functions, you have to use the CLI, which is difficult if you don't have enough training. It relies heavily on CLI guides and manuals. For improvements, I'd suggest making the WiFi access points lighter. Lighter access points like those from TP-Link or Ubiquiti would be better. Additionally, the switches struggle with heat in our environment. They can get very hot and damage the electrical components due to inadequate cooling.
Edward Zeng - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Auckland University of Technology
Troubleshooting obstacles occur but technical support excels
My general opinion on Aruba Airwave is that it's acceptable, but it's not ideal because we are accustomed to Cisco. We didn't use Aruba much, but once you set it up, you probably don't need to worry about it too much. The version we are using is quite old now, probably around version four. I can't remember the version exactly because a lot of the products require Aruba Central, but we haven't used Aruba Central yet. I face challenges with Aruba Airwave, particularly with troubleshooting. When someone has a problem, we try troubleshooting, but the end-to-end users' messages show some details that are not always up-to-date, and sometimes the information from the GUI is not exactly aligned with what's on the website. If Aruba Airwave can apply AI capabilities, that would be even more perfect. I'd appreciate integration with Aruba Central; it would be great if they could incorporate it into Airwave.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Healthcare Company
13%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista?
In version 8.7.70, I am not able to change a user from administrative to room once the user is created. This limitation is challenging and was confirmed by Alcatel as not possible in the 8.7.70 ver...
What is your primary use case for Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista?
The solution is used for auditing and providing audit reports, sending mails, and notifications.
What advice do you have for others considering Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista?
I rate Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista an overall nine out of ten. The issue with changing a user from administrative to room under the user section needs improvement. If this could be resolved, the ratin...
What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?
They have other sensors which can manage and control all the sites. There is an IoT component where we can restrict internet services such as Facebook and YouTube. These things can also be managed....
What is your primary use case for Aruba Airwave?
For Aruba Airwave, I am using the wireless devices for the Wi-Fi for the full company with access points. This is the top product I feel, and I see in the Gartner also. It is a good product and eas...
 

Also Known As

Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista 8770, OmniVista 8770, OmniVista 2500, OmniVista Cirrus, Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista 2500, Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista Cirrus, OmniVista 2500 NMS, OmniVista 2500 VMM, OmniVista 3600,
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blickle and Scherer, Loughborough University, CSF Inox, Caritas Speyer
Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa
Find out what your peers are saying about Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista vs. Aruba Airwave and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.