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Cisco DNA Center vs DX Spectrum comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Cisco DNA Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
1st
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Network Automation (2nd)
DX Spectrum
Ranking in Network Management Applications
6th
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
22nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
116
Ranking in other categories
IT Infrastructure Monitoring (22nd), Network Troubleshooting (7th), DX NetOps (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco DNA Center is 29.7%, up from 27.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DX Spectrum is 2.1%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AvrahamSonenthal - PeerSpot reviewer
Efficiently manages our wireless network and provides valuable monitoring features
The platform's biggest benefit has been in managing our wireless network. Having a single pane of glass to control all wireless controllers and access points and to monitor activity has been a significant advantage. We're a small federal agency with around 300 network devices, so automation is a minor focus. It's more relevant for larger networks. The main benefits we've seen are in inventory management and the potential for configuration automation. However, I recommend using the DNA Centre only for larger networks with over a thousand devices; otherwise, it may not be cost-effective. Before proceeding, ensure that your devices are compatible with DNA Center, as not all Cisco devices are supported. Also, investing in proper training is different from plug-and-play. I rate it an eight.
DickBaker - PeerSpot reviewer
An all-inclusive monitoring solution that adapts to emerging technologies
The product helps to correlate events.  The solution's most valuable features are its integration with Broadcom tools and scalability. DX Spectrum needs better documentation on its complex features.  I have been using the product since 2005.  I rate DX Spectrum's stability an eight point five…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration."
"Automation is another key highlight. With automation, you can automate everything through a single port."
"The monitoring features are very useful for network engineers."
"The most valuable features of the solution are all of its security features...It is a highly scalable solution."
"I like the visibility, instant build, network, policies, and the ability to control access. I also like that you can visualize your whole network."
"It is very versatile in terms of analytics."
"It enables monitoring of various components such as access points, switch cards, and other elements within the company's solutions."
"The automation features are significant, reducing configuration time. This means outstanding functionality. By deploying the controller automatically, the rest becomes automated"
"​Stability has been good. We really have not had any issues.​"
"Discovery: Scheduled, on-demand, synchronized with eHealth."
"It is easy to understand and determine when and/or where the network is failing."
"It is easy to navigate."
"I have found the cross analysis feature to be the most valuable."
"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 monitoring just comes to us: "Oh, there's something wrong with that machine." It tells us. There are some 50,000 machines or so, all doing different things. And if they go down we hear about it."
"It has a high-quality graphical interface."
 

Cons

"Technical support could be better. The price could be better, and it could be more stable."
"An area that needs improvement is the integration with other vendors."
"The tool's deployment is complex. It also needs to improve its GUI."
"They can improve the network visibility. Licensing and its maintenance are also needed."
"There is a limitation with the number of VRFs that you can have in your network, and this has caused us problems with some customers."
"An area for improvement in Cisco DNA Center is the latency in data correlation. For example, sometimes, when an issue happens, and I check the logs, I can't find the corresponding log. There's a delay in log replication, so this is what needs improvement in Cisco DNA Center. Reporting in Cisco DNA Center could also be improved because it only has a few templates, and you can't customize it based on your requirements. There aren't many options available in Cisco DNA Center regarding reporting, versus Cisco Prime, which has excellent features for different levels of detailed reports. I'd like to see real-time data replication in the next release of Cisco DNA Center, similar to what's done in Meraki. Data in Meraki is real-time with no delay, so data is immediately replicated in the cloud. Currently, there's a lag in Cisco DNA Center, and addressing that lag is the enhancement I'd like to see in Cisco DNA Center. The solution also needs to be more user-friendly."
"From the recent DNA point of view, there are some stability challenges with Cisco, but very minor."
"Cisco DNA Center was a new technology for us, at the beginning, it was not easy to do, but Cisco did a lot of training with us to a level we could handle everything. The team is managing itself now without the assistance of Cisco."
"Technical support for this product is not so good. It needs improvement."
"I think the management or configuration of devices needs some improvement."
"A better integration with the UIM, as far as being able to do root cause analysis and that type of analytics."
"DX Spectrum could be improved by them getting rid of the Java console. It would also be better with Turkish language support."
"We want to make our own choice for the AIOps solution and do not want to be forced to use the Broadcom OI solution by default."
"The upgrade process could be smoother. More of the steps around upgrading could be automated."
"For us, the implementation was quite complex but it's because of the large number of different environments we're dealing with."
"There should be a facility to integrate with other monitoring applications that are currently running in the environment."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate the product's pricing an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is very cheap, and ten is very expensive."
"The tool's licensing may not come across as something that may be friendly for users."
"The solution is a little bit expensive but depends a lot on the customer's usage. If you use it in the right place, you can easily pay for it."
"I do know that Cisco does offer some really good promotions for DNA Center to bring the costs down."
"The partnership price is notably high, but it ultimately depends on the chosen business model."
"Cisco DNA Center is a licensed product with multiple levels of licensing available such as basic, advanced, and essential. I don't have the exact figure, but Cisco DNA Center is costly. For example, the box has information about the essential license and costs a considerable amount of money. You need to pay extra to use advanced features in Cisco DNA Center. My company sees Cisco DNA Center as a solution that's worth the money, which is why it invested in the solution. If you want centralized management for your network, especially when upgrading it, Cisco DNA Center is perfect, but it's more suitable for a large-scale rather than a small-scale network."
"The tool is medium-priced."
"The price could be better. It's a very expensive tool."
"The price is good enough to expect an ideal solution. It's expensive."
"The product, support, and maintenance are all expensive, which is another reason that we are switching to another solution."
"It is very pricey. With the current trend of enterprises moving towards cheaper and more modern looking solutions like ManageEngine, SevOne, ServicePilot, and Paesller."
"Spectrum is expensive."
"Since the acquisition by Broadcom, we have not had such a good experience with licensing and pricing. Since they were bought by Broadcom, every sales contract is getting complicated. It's very complicated, and it's much more expensive than before. It's not a good pricing strategy from Broadcom."
"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 solution's pricing could be better."
"It’s a great tool, but an expensive one. Learn how to use it properly."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
University
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cisco DNA Center?
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it gives some kind of ease in operations, especially since our company is moving from CLI to GUI-based configuration.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco DNA Center?
I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive.
What needs improvement with Cisco DNA Center?
One area that needs improvement is the upgrade process. The time required for downloading and installing packages during upgrades is too long, often taking around ten hours. This is a significant i...
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?
Support from Broadcom could be better. Sometimes we wait a very long time for a solution to level three problems. Challenges and Limitations The only other challenge is the price, which is the main...
 

Also Known As

DNA Center
CA Spectrum
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
National Informatics Centre India, Banese, Olympus, AlphaServe Technologies, Sicredi
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco DNA Center vs. DX Spectrum and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.