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Cisco Catalyst Center vs DX Spectrum 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
7.4
Cisco Catalyst Center simplifies network management and enhances efficiency, providing positive ROI and performance, despite high initial costs.
Sentiment score
7.1
DX Spectrum users see 100% ROI with automation enhancing data accuracy, reducing labor costs, and improving infrastructure monitoring.
They have a long life.
The best feature is its availability, easy deployment, and good support for the solution.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.7
Cisco Catalyst Center's efficient, timely support is highly rated, though hardware replacement delays occur, especially in complex cases.
Sentiment score
7.0
DX Spectrum's customer service is highly rated, but technical support experiences vary, with delays post-Broadcom acquisition.
I had a situation where they were present with us overnight to fix an issue for a customer, demonstrating their dedication.
I would rate technical support nine to nine and a half out of ten.
The software platform is very easy to use.
Broadcom technical support is very good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Cisco Catalyst Center is lauded for scalability, flexibility, and efficient device management, with high ratings for its adaptability.
Sentiment score
8.1
DX Spectrum is praised for its scalability, integrating easily into large infrastructures with minimal adjustments needed for expansion.
They have a feature that allows stacking switches together.
Cisco Catalyst Center is scalable and quite flexible, allowing for specific model choices like the 9,000 or 2,000 series based on the clients' performance requirements and bottlenecks.
It effectively manages all the devices I have, demonstrating its capability to scale.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Cisco Catalyst Center is praised for its reliability in networking, boasting strong stability and robust security for critical workloads.
Sentiment score
7.3
DX Spectrum is praised for stability, with minor issues often due to configurations, effectively supported for solutions.
They are very stable, not power cycling, and basically maintaining their stability.
They provide a robust and secure solution for critical workloads.
Cisco Catalyst Center is stable, and I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Catalyst Center struggles with compatibility, setup complexity, cost-effectiveness, user interface, documentation, threat detection, and mixed vendor support.
DX Spectrum users seek HTML5 transition, better integration, improved event management, and simpler deployment, citing cost concerns versus competitors.
My customers often complain about numerous software bugs requiring frequent software patches and updates to resolve these issues.
In the current setup, incidents are always reactionary, and it would be beneficial if Cisco Catalyst Center could proactively handle issues such as bandwidth crunches and packet drops.
Cisco Catalyst Center lacked intelligence in this area and required reliance on third-party appliances like firewalls or threat protection devices.
The event management should have more deduplication and alert correlation and check the bidirectional communication with ServiceNow.
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst Center, while costly, offers value with high quality and ROI, positioned as a premium networking solution.
DX Spectrum is costly for small-to-medium businesses, though flexible and negotiable for enterprises; Broadcom's acquisition increased complexity.
They are also facing competitive pricing challenges from Huawei.
Cost is a major factor when any company is buying, and Cisco's products are pricier even compared to other US-based solutions.
The setup can be somewhat expensive.
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst Center provides robust automation, management, and security for large networks, enhancing functionality and ease of use.
DX Spectrum provides comprehensive network management with topology views, automation, and multi-vendor support, enhanced by a user-friendly interface.
There is a very wide user base providing support, so I almost never have to contact Cisco support due to the vast accessible knowledge base.
Their threat intelligence platform is excellent, including Talos Intelligence, which provides a good database and strong threat insights.
This dual functionality is crucial for monitoring large enterprises, providing a robust solution for IT teams.
DX Spectrum uses an SNMP Trap to accept all the details, especially for device monitoring of faulty devices, allowing me to use Spectrum effectively.
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
DX Spectrum
Ranking in Network Management Applications
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
117
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (21st), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (20th), Network Troubleshooting (6th), DX NetOps (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmad Attal - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivers strong analytics and integration capabilities but requires regular updates and training
My customers often complain about numerous software bugs requiring frequent software patches and updates to resolve these issues. Furthermore, the complexity of the solution can be challenging for some customers as they often require extensive training to fully understand and utilize the product. They have concerns about the high number of software bugs and the need for regular updates to address these bugs.
Umair (Abu Mohaymin) Akhlaque - PeerSpot reviewer
Good for monitoring, covers networks well
If you are looking for the right monitoring tool, Spectrum is one of the best solutions. It covers networks very well. It has all the capabilities that you're looking for when it comes to monitoring. Spectrum is great for root cause analysis. It has excellent correlation event management. Spectrum's stability and scalability are also amazing. If you have a CA Service Desk, then it can be integrated so that if you have open tickets they can be closed automatically. The configuration manager is great as well.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
18%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Healthcare Company
10%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Center?
The cost is relative and depends on the market and one's budget provision. While Cisco provides a good return on investment, they are also facing competitive pricing challenges from Huawei.
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?
If they can add a layer of portable hotspots with some licensing flexibility for 20 to 50 users, it would be a great feature.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?
We use Cisco Catalyst Center ( /products/cisco-catalyst-center-reviews ) for managing switches in our IT infrastructure. Our primary focus has been on utilizing Catalyst ( /products/cisco-catalyst-...
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?
We are a customer of Broadcom, we use a group license that covers various CA products, including DX Spectrum. The company purchases the licenses they need from this group license, and we do not hav...
What needs improvement with DX Spectrum?
DX Spectrum should have an automatic ticketing mechanism with ServiceNow. I need to use other tools for event management. It has a dashboarding mechanism and monitors devices and network switches t...
 

Also Known As

No data available
CA Spectrum
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
National Informatics Centre India, Banese, Olympus, AlphaServe Technologies, Sicredi
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Catalyst Center vs. DX Spectrum and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.