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it_user874995 - PeerSpot reviewer
Support Engineer Management Area at Acuntia
User
Easy to understand and determine when and/or where the network is failing
Pros and Cons
  • "It is easy to understand and determine when and/or where the network is failing."
  • "Make it easier to certify devices."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case is to monitor networks.

How has it helped my organization?

It is easy to understand and determine when and/or where the network is failing. 

What is most valuable?

All the features are working fine.

What needs improvement?

Make it easier to certify devices. 

Buyer's Guide
DX Spectrum
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about DX Spectrum. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
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For how long have I used the solution?

More than five years.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partners.
PeerSpot user
it_user202602 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Consultant
It has a simple GUI but occasionally it looks like your infrastructure has gone dark.

Valuable Features

The ability to monitor your WAN and LAN infrastructure in a simple GUI.

Improvements to My Organization

We keep this product up and monitoring 24x7 for fast and simple availability.

Room for Improvement

Really unsure of any, quite pleased with product.

Use of Solution

Going on two years.

Stability Issues

There are a very few occasions when the system "barfs" and it looks like your infrastructure has gone dark, but it bounces back quickly (the system).

Scalability Issues

None so far. We are one of the largest networks in America and it hasn't so far.

Customer Service and Technical Support

Customer Service:

8/10.

Technical Support:

9/10.

Implementation Team

I believe it was done in-house.

ROI

Not sure of the exact number, but our clients charge $50,000 a minute so every second counts.

Other Advice

This is a good product, just be sure to train the ones who are setting it up because this is based on manual data entry and/or SNMP.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
DX Spectrum
February 2025
Learn what your peers think about DX Spectrum. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: February 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user201033 - PeerSpot reviewer
CA Management Consultant at a tech consulting company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Centralized console to manage network and systems. We had minor stability issues which CA fixed.

What is most valuable?

  • IT Infrastructure Monitoring
  • Fault Management
  • Topology Views

How has it helped my organization?

  • Clear picture of all network and server pictures
  • Centralized console to manage network and systems
  • All backup for router configurations

What needs improvement?

  • Network
  • Servers

For how long have I used the solution?

For eight years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Just minor but CA provided support to resolve the issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

10/10.

Technical Support:

10/10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We didn't use a previous solution.

How was the initial setup?

It's straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We used both an in-house team and a vendor.

What was our ROI?

10/10.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Just day to day operations.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, we also looked at HP OpenView, SolarWinds, and ManageEngine.

What other advice do I have?

This product is for all network and systems monitoring.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are Solution Partners
PeerSpot user
Ravi Suvvari - PeerSpot reviewer
Ravi SuvvariPerformance and Fault-tolerance Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees
Top 10Real User

Thanx Amanullah for sharing valuable inputs about CA APM

PeerSpot user
Head of Data Science at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
The valuable features are topology discovery, configuration management, and service management.

What is most valuable?

These features are core requirements for infrastructure management:

  • Topology Discovery
  • Configuration Management
  • Best network root-cause analysis
  • Service management
  • Integration with CA SOI and CA SDM

How has it helped my organization?

  • Reduces system fails
  • Reduces time to resolve issues
  • Gives a clear picture about device usage: Not in terms of performance, but in terms of roles

Sometimes customers use network equipment which does not solve any business tasks and can be simply switched off.

What needs improvement?

It's a mature product for a classic network.

New areas (NFV, SDN, APM) are covered by new technologies. As such, products should have tight integration with modern data science platforms.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for over ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's the most reliable product I have used.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We did not encounter any scalability issues. However, we don't have a large number of devices. We only have 10-15,000 devices for a distributed arch, which is normal.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

4

Technical Support:

The technical support is professional.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I work as a System Integrator and we sell all known NFMs. Spectrum is the best.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

Implementation fully ourself

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I don't have any specific advice regarding this.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated Comarch, EMC, HPE, IBM, WANDL and TEOCO.

What other advice do I have?

Don't freeze your selection. This product is mature and is the best. Start your project and move forward to solve business issues

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: We are business partners.
PeerSpot user
it_user198879 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network/System Engineer TL at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
It needed an old version of Java for deployment but its a stable product.

What is most valuable?

  • Reliability
  • Stability

These are valuable because of the integration with CA Service Desk and the application of incident and event management in our environment.

How has it helped my organization?

Reports and alerts give us the correct KPIs.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used it for five years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

It has a limitation in that it needed an old version of Java.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

No issues encountered.

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

7/10.

Technical Support:

7/10.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Yes and I switched to this product as its visualization is better.

How was the initial setup?

Utilizing all the needed features for our environment made our initial configuration complex.

What about the implementation team?

We used a vendor team who were OK.

What was our ROI?

It is a good percentage.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes we also looked at Microsoft SCOM.

What other advice do I have?

Try to utilize it well.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user405477 - PeerSpot reviewer
Owner at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Consultant
Powerful fault management platform which integrates with CA's other products.

Valuable Features:

I like the flexibility CA Spectrum offers to model networks with devices and different locations and technologies. 

It is easy to use and offers a lot out-of-the-box features (i.e. multi-vendor support, network discovery). 

If necessary there are also APIs to develop our own integrations.

Improvements to My Organization:

Spectrum admins mostly enjoy having a powerful fault management platform which also lines up and integrates with the other software products they are using, i.e. trouble ticketing system and performance management solutions.

Room for Improvement:

There is still room for improvement for mobile clients like tablets and smartphones. Most of the functionality can only be used with the Java client.

Deployment Issues:

We've had no issues with deployment.

Stability Issues:

We've had no issues with stability.

Scalability Issues:

We've had no issues with scalability. Especially with the latest release, the scalability was improved which allows support for huge networks with a small number of CA Spectrum servers.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Our company is a business and integration partner of CA.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1727706 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Highly scalable and useful for SNMP monitoring
Pros and Cons
  • "Some of the most valuable features are it's highly scalable, the carrier is great, and if something has SNMP, it can monitor it. It's a great network fault management solution."
  • "DX Spectrum could be improved by them getting rid of the Java console. It would also be better with Turkish language support."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of DX Spectrum is for monitoring and network fault management. If you have a carrier or a large-scale network and you would like to monitor it, DX Spectrum is one of the best solutions on the market. 

This is an on-prem solution. 

What is most valuable?

Some of the most valuable features are it's highly scalable, the carrier is great, and if something has SNMP, it can monitor it. It's a great network fault management solution. 

What needs improvement?

DX Spectrum could be improved by them getting rid of the Java console. It would also be better with Turkish language support. 

As for additional features, they release changes quarterly. Right now, the only thing I would like is Turkish support. 

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been providing this solution to customers for over 10 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

DX Spectrum is highly scalable, which is why they are used by the biggest ISPs and carriers in Turkey. 

How are customer service and support?

Their tech support is very good. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup depends on the implementation, but it normally takes a couple of days to a week. It depends on the size of the project. 

What about the implementation team?

We implement this solution for customers. We are currently providing professional services to four customers. In Turkey, there are probably more than ten customers that use DX Spectrum. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There is actually no base Spectrum product—it becomes DX NetOps. It's part of the product family, and Broadcom changed its name. New customers cannot buy DX Spectrum, they can buy DX NetOps, and Spectrum is a part of that family. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate DX Spectrum a nine out of ten. 

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
it_user96264 - PeerSpot reviewer
CA Technical Support Engineer/Fujitsu Regional Service Delivery Manager for PZ Cussons West africa at a tech company with 501-1,000 employees
Vendor
Root-cause analysis and modelling pinpoint the exact cause of problems. Technical support is a 6/10.

What is most valuable?

Root-cause analysis and modelling pinpoint the exact cause of problems, which makes life easier.

How has it helped my organization?

It was implemented for a customer and it helped reduce turnaround time.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used it for 3+ years.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

It was very easy to deploy and configure.

How is customer service and technical support?

I rate technical support 6/10.

How was the initial setup?

Straightforward installation and setup.

What about the implementation team?

An in-house team implemented it. A complete implementation requires a certain level of hands-on training.

What was our ROI?

CA Spectrum provides value, but it can be very expensive.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I played around with SolarWinds and some others, but CA Spectrum gave me a more detailed analysis for fault identification.

What other advice do I have?

The newer versions are easier to deploy and they have more features.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: My company is a CA Gold partner.
PeerSpot user
Umair (Abu Mohaymin) Akhlaque - PeerSpot reviewer
Umair (Abu Mohaymin) AkhlaqueEnterprise Solutions & Services Head at Duroob Technologies
Top 5LeaderboardReal User

CA solutions are generally it expensive. But it's depends on the size of network organization have for sure it's not smb or mid scale customers. For mid I would say better to go for CA uim

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Buyer's Guide
Download our free DX Spectrum Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: February 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free DX Spectrum Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.