IBM Spectrum Control vs NetApp OnCommand comparison

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the Storage Management category. IBM is ranked #6 with an average rating of 6.0, while NetApp is ranked #1 with an average rating of 7.5. IBM holds a 9.7% mindshare in SM, compared to NetApp’s 8.5% mindshare. Additionally, 87% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

IBM Spectrum Control

Read 8 IBM Spectrum Control reviews

429 Views
192 Comparison Views

87% willing to recommend

NetApp OnCommand

Read 6 NetApp OnCommand reviews

335 Views
231 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Control

NetApp OnCommand

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Spectrum Control and NetApp OnCommand based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Storage Management solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Spectrum Control vs. NetApp OnCommand Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Control vs. NetApp OnCommand

March 2025

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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

IBM Spectrum Control

Ranking in Storage Management

6th

Average Rating

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetApp OnCommand

Ranking in Storage Management

1st

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Storage Management category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Control is 9.7%, up from 7.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp OnCommand is 8.5%, down from 11.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Storage Management

Featured Reviews

Aamir Jameel

Senior Systems Manager at Tapal tea

Scalable but not user-friendly

Spectrum Control could be more user-friendly. IBM also needs to provide proper training to handle Spectrum Control because it's a complicated solution I've been using Spectrum Control for almost three years. Spectrum Control's stability is fine. Spectrum Control's scalability is fine - we can…

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Henry Aragon

Storage Administrator at a insurance company with 501-1,000 employees

Versatile data protocols improve efficiency while execution capabilities need enhancement

The ease of configuring NetApp FAS series is noteworthy, as they support multiple standards like iSCSI, NFS, Fibre Channel, and NVMe. NetApp's data efficiency protocols are unmatched in the industry. ActiveIQ offers significant improvements in data monitoring and error notification. It provides crucial data management features and has versatile support for various protocols and standards, making it a one-size-fits-all storage solution.

Read full review

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 is the ease of use. The ability to get into a storage device and look at whatever you are trying to look at as far as performance, then obtain the reports that you need to do your analytical work."

"Spectrum Control is highly secure and competitively priced."

"Spectrum Control's scalability is fine - we can extend it for the backup requirement."

"The benefits would be mostly the ability to diagnose a problem."

"The granularity of this solution has been most useful. Customers can click on a single item and get the information only for the single item they choose."

"Technical support is quite responsive and helpful."

"The installation was very easy. You just install an agent on a server, and you give that agent access to your storage device, then it just collects the data. It took five minutes to set up."

"In my opinion, it's the best monitoring and report creation tool for IBM storage devices. You can do a lot of performance stats and reports with very nice tools for IBM storage devices."

More IBM Spectrum Control pros

"One of the main features is the ability to run the block and file storage from the same system."

"The ease of configuring NetApp FAS series is noteworthy, as they support multiple standards like iSCSI, NFS, Fibre Channel, and NVMe."

"In OnCommand Unified Manager, we can monitor the entire cluster as well as configure data protection through Unified Manager."

"Snapshot is a valuable feature."

"I am impressed with the product's ability to warn us whenever something is wrong with the system. It is connected with Active Directory and Exchange. Whenever there is anything wrong with NetApp, the solution will alert you to an event error, post which you can start to troubleshoot."

Cons

"The solution must support multi-vendor storage."

"The database could be improved so that the complexity of installation could be easier. We would also like to have more granularity in the profiles and products for users. We would like to link the users to the tool to managers or auditors."

"I would like to see is more information regarding the copy groups (the replication)."

"Spectrum Control could be more user-friendly."

"The initial setup for IBM Spectrum Control is a bit complicated. They should also make it easier to integrate and use the Cosmos Analytics tool, which is very complicated."

"If we were to add VM level performance being able to monitor VMs on a VM level, then that would be good."

"The pain points were, and may still continue to be, the fact that there are multiple components of the product which are installed, you might say, somewhat individually."

"There could be better performance in block storage and the GUI could be improved because not every operation is available. You need some operations in the CLI."

"The solution lacks the ability to generate reports from Snapshot."

"The tool is not intuitive and the menus are confusing, especially the snapshot view."

"ActiveIQ only provides read access and does not allow making changes directly."

"At present, OnCommand Unified Manager has just the monitoring and data protection features. It would be better to add some features for entire cluster management and storage management. Automation should also be included so that instead of separately accessing Unified Manager and OnCommand Workflow Automation, we can work in a single window. It is very much required."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We were already licensing Spectrum Control. This was one reasons why we went to Control rather than using the other product."

"The solution is reasonably priced."

"It is pay for the amount of storage that you are monitoring. The more that we use the tool and like the tool, we may want to extend it to other storage platforms. This is just a matter of cost."

"The tool is cheaper than EMC but more expensive than HP and Pure Storage. I would rate the solution's pricing an eight out of ten."

"When we compare with other similar kinds of products from Dell EMC and HP, the price of NetApp OnCommand is reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Government

20%

Manufacturing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Control?

The product keeps historical data for a very long time.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Control?

The solution must support multi-vendor storage.

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What is your primary use case for IBM Spectrum Control?

The solution can be used for monitoring storage.

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What do you like most about NetApp OnCommand?

I am impressed with the product's ability to warn us whenever something is wrong with the system. It is connected with Active Directory and Exchange. Whenever there is anything wrong with NetApp, t...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp OnCommand?

NetApp collaborates with us to provide deals when possible, optimizing storage based on business requirements, allowing us to save on costs for unnecessary storage space.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp OnCommand?

ActiveIQ only provides read access and does not allow making changes directly. Making it capable of executing changes to NetApp would be beneficial.

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Storage Insights vs IBM Spectrum Control

Compared 69% of the time

Dell Storage Resource Manager vs IBM Spectrum Control

Compared 31% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Control Competitors

NetApp OnCommand Insight vs NetApp OnCommand

Compared 61% of the time

NetApp BlueXP vs NetApp OnCommand

Compared 39% of the time

More NetApp OnCommand Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Control

March 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Control product report

Buyer's Guide

Storage Management

March 2025

Download NetApp OnCommand product report

Also Known As

Spectrum Control

NetApp Operations Manager, NetApp SANscreen

Overview

IBM Spectrum Control is a comprehensive solution that can significantly improve monitoring, automation and analytics capabilities in multi-vendor storage environments. IBM Spectrum Control helps manage storage systems, software-defined storage, storage-area network (SAN) fabrics and devices. Storage can be seen from multiple perspectives, including departmental, application and server views. IBM Spectrum Control helps simplify provisioning, tier optimization, performance management and data replication processes.

IBM

NetApp OnCommand data management software allows you to gain a new level of control over your shared storage infrastructure, and gives you the visibility you need to achieve common data management across resources in the Data Fabric.

This suite of industry-leading management products unleashes the power of the ONTAP software, to help maximize system utilization, meet storage SLAs, minimize risks, and boost performance. Use the OnCommand portfolio’s intuitive graphical user interfaces, automation, and integration to simplify data management of your on-premises and hybrid cloud environments.

NetApp

Sample Customers

Nuance

Norfolk County Council, Yahoo Japan, Sheridan College, Citrix Systems, Avanade, Quasar Data Center, DG Khan Cement Co. Ltd.

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Control vs. NetApp OnCommand

March 2025

Free Report: IBM Spectrum Control vs. NetApp OnCommand

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Control vs. NetApp OnCommand and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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