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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
3.9
Clients prefer Cisco for network stability and lower compliance costs, despite high initial costs and challenges in quantifying benefits.
Sentiment score
7.1
DX Spectrum offers significant ROI and value through cost savings, automation, improved accuracy, and long-term process efficiency.
They have a long life.
Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
The best feature is its availability, easy deployment, and good support for the solution.
Consultant at TECVA
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Catalyst Center support is praised for technical expertise, quick responses, and dedicated service, enhancing customer experience despite prioritization challenges.
Sentiment score
7.1
DX Spectrum's customer service ratings vary, with praise for expertise but criticism for response time and inconsistent support.
I had a situation where they were present with us overnight to fix an issue for a customer, demonstrating their dedication.
Cyber Security Architect at Spie Ics
I would rate technical support nine to nine and a half out of ten.
Lead Network Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The software platform is very easy to use.
Consultant at TECVA
Broadcom technical support is very good.
Senior Program Manager at Tata Consultancy Services
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Cisco Catalyst Center is praised for scalability and versatility, meeting diverse business needs and adapting to growth.
Sentiment score
8.0
DX Spectrum is praised for scalability, handling large networks, easy server addition, and supporting numerous devices efficiently.
They have a feature that allows stacking switches together.
Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
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.
Solution Architect at HCLSoftware
It effectively manages all the devices I have, demonstrating its capability to scale.
Lead Network Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Cisco Catalyst Center is reliable and stable, excelling in networking with minor security and documentation issues reported.
Sentiment score
7.2
DX Spectrum is stable with minimal downtime, quick bug fixes, enhanced performance, and valued for its long-standing market presence.
They are very stable, not power cycling, and basically maintaining their stability.
Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
I have not experienced any downtime, crashes, or other problems with Cisco Catalyst Center.
Network Engineer at CHEROKEE NATION
They provide a robust and secure solution for critical workloads.
Product Manager at Uop Ipl
We found the process of DX Spectrum down from time to time, and we need to interfere manually to restart.
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Cisco Catalyst Center needs GUI improvements, better integration, streamlined deployment, enhanced security, and compatibility fixes for improved user accessibility.
DX Spectrum needs simpler documentation, modern interface, improved user-friendliness, and better integration with third-party tools and HTML5.
Current pricing is too expensive for features that users may not be sure they will use, pricing the company out of the market.
Network Engineer at Edmonton Catholic School Board
Cisco Catalyst Center is not integrated well with third-party vendors because it can only work with Cisco products.
Systems Technician. IT Office at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
My customers often complain about numerous software bugs requiring frequent software patches and updates to resolve these issues.
Cyber Security Architect at Spie Ics
Currently, they appear as pop-up messages, but I would prefer having alarm messages shown as a scrolling bar at the taskbar for easier visibility.
Solution Architect at SA Consulting
The event management should have more deduplication and alert correlation and check the bidirectional communication with ServiceNow.
Senior Program Manager at Tata Consultancy Services
If we want to make others changes without paying for customization, we need to learn it deeply by ourselves.
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Cisco Catalyst Center offers value despite complex pricing, but is often compared to cheaper alternatives like Fortinet and Juniper.
DX Spectrum's pricing is high, more suitable for large enterprises, with robust features justifying the cost despite concerns.
They are also facing competitive pricing challenges from Huawei.
Deputy Director at NITDA
Cost is a major factor when any company is buying, and Cisco's products are pricier even compared to other US-based solutions.
Sr. Executive Design Engineering Team at Wateen Telecom (pvt.)
For a hardware refresh, the site switched to Fortinet switching because the cost difference was approximately six thousand dollars per device compared to other solutions.
Network Engineer at Edmonton Catholic School Board
The price of DX Spectrum is not competitive when compared to other solutions, such as SolarWinds.
Solution Architect at SA Consulting
The price is very, very high.
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Cisco Catalyst Center offers automation, scalability, network performance, robust security, and efficient management with comprehensive analytics and third-party integration.
DX Spectrum offers scalable monitoring, robust fault management, user-friendly interface, and seamless integration with CA Service Desk.
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.
Network Administrator at a healthcare company with 501-1,000 employees
Their threat intelligence platform is excellent, including Talos Intelligence, which provides a good database and strong threat insights.
Analyst at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
This dual functionality is crucial for monitoring large enterprises, providing a robust solution for IT teams.
Product Manager at Uop Ipl
The interface has the needed configuration for visualization, and it's effective in providing a complete diagram of network links and connections across various stations globally.
Solution Architect at SA Consulting
DX Spectrum uses an SNMP Trap to accept all the details, especially for device monitoring of faulty devices, allowing me to use Spectrum effectively.
Senior Program Manager at Tata Consultancy Services
We do not know everything about how to build the dashboard, but for what the management requires, it is very simple.
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Catalyst Center
Ranking in Network Management Applications
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
DX Spectrum
Ranking in Network Management Applications
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (17th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (20th), Network Troubleshooting (6th), DX NetOps (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Cisco Catalyst Center is 4.7%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of DX Spectrum is 4.7%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Catalyst Center4.7%
DX Spectrum4.7%
Other90.6%
Network Management Applications
 

Featured Reviews

AR
Network Engineer at Edmonton Catholic School Board
Has improved infrastructure management with customizable reporting and automated deployment
Cisco Catalyst Center's reporting is one of the best features, providing graphs and quick hit analysis in one place instead of having to search elsewhere. Historical data can be stored in Cisco Catalyst Center, and dashboards and widgets can be configured to personal preference. Device deployment can be automated to the point where all someone needs to do is plug it in. Zero Touch Provisioning, while requiring some initial work to set up properly, provides significant benefits. Once configured, it reduces the need for travel by specific network personnel, allowing on-site or other staff to handle device deployment by simply plugging in the cable.
PinchasAlbalya - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Monitoring has become centralized and management now sees real‑time health of key network assets
The time investment required is significant, not because of difficulty but because of the need for free time to invest in it. We need to get the knowledge. We know there are many options, but we took an external vendor to install and make the customization. If we want to make others changes without paying for customization, we need to learn it deeply by ourselves. The tutorials are very complicated. They could work on that area. The tutorial part could be more simplified. I know there are many explanations, and you can get help or documents in one click on the current page in the product, but it is not very clear. If you want to do something new that you did not see from the vendor in the installation, it is not very simple. The documents are good for people that know how to operate the product well, but for new users, it is not simple.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Government
13%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Energy/Utilities Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise18
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise90
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Catalyst Center?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that licensing is always a pain, as everything involves levels of licensing, so when there are specific features I am looking for, they are ...
What needs improvement with Cisco Catalyst Center?
I would say Cisco Catalyst Center's PNP functionality is not as good as it could be. When the switches come out of the box and we try to configure it, the onboarding is kind of hard where I assign ...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Catalyst Center?
The main use case for us is to centralize managing our switches in one spot. We have a lot of switches to manage, so it's very easy to find that useful.
What needs improvement with DX Spectrum?
The time investment required is significant, not because of difficulty but because of the need for free time to invest in it. We need to get the knowledge. We know there are many options, but we to...
What is your primary use case for DX Spectrum?
The university purchased DX Spectrum, called ICE. DX Spectrum NAC is working for us only on Cisco 9200 switches. It is not working on any other switch like C1000 or HG or any 2960X. Even other Cisc...
 

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: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.