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IBM Tivoli NetCool pros and cons

Vendor: IBM
3.8 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

IBM Tivoli NetCool excels in scalability and flexibility for monitoring various network components and managing a large number of events.
It offers robust integration capabilities and customization options, making it a versatile tool for diverse network environments.
The support associated with IBM Tivoli NetCool is highly regarded, supplemented by extensive online documentation for users to troubleshoot issues independently.
IBM Tivoli NetCool's predictive analytics and auto-remediation features enable effective alarm management by consolidating and analyzing data.
Built-in automation capabilities make IBM Tivoli NetCool easier to manage compared to traditional script-based methods, especially in handling numerous alarms and endpoints.

CONS

Customization and integration required are very complex, demanding prior training or experience.
IBM Tivoli NetCool is not user-friendly and is difficult to use.
Users request more Artificial Intelligent Operations in future releases.
IBM Tivoli NetCool is considered too expensive.
Installation needs simplification, and technical support should be faster.
 

IBM Tivoli NetCool Pros review quotes

it_user1068 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Jul 1, 2012
It improves customer satisfaction, deploy-ability, adaptability, flexibility, scalability, and reduces cost of operation.
it_user4866 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works with 51-200 employees
Mar 6, 2013
Full featured - event/fault management, performance management, topology map, discovery, RCA, event enrichment, Proviso will chart data from almost any source with a variety of aggregation options.
reviewer1047339 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director / Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Jan 12, 2020
The scalability of monitoring, the breadth of supported network components, the scale of the number of monitoring events, and the flexibility in customization make this a well-rounded product.
Learn what your peers think about IBM Tivoli NetCool. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1029846 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Baseband & RF Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Feb 26, 2020
Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system.
PP
Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Nov 4, 2020
Support is one of the best aspects of this solution. NetCool is a good product that has good flexibility. There are a lot of documents available online which is one of the best features of IBM Tivoli Suite. Whenever an issue happens, rather than going to technical support, if you find the exact issue in Google, you can get tech notes for that particular issue.
reviewer1458369 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Executive Officer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Nov 25, 2020
The solution has very good integration capabilities.
AH
Sales Account Manager at Future Systems | ITSM Solutions
Dec 9, 2021
It's very easy to use.
OmBachu - PeerSpot reviewer
Founding Partner at Guild Systems
Jul 8, 2022
Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation.
Bassem Samir - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Transmission NOC Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Oct 26, 2022
NetCool has a huge database that can collect and process about one million alarms a day.
reviewer1066044 - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Security Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nov 2, 2022
The feature I have found most valuable with NetCool is how it collaborates all the alarms, and then it does a predictive analysis, providing a consolidated alarm view and management.
 

IBM Tivoli NetCool Cons review quotes

it_user1068 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees
Jul 1, 2012
It was a bit expensive to purchase but the benefits outweigh all the cons by far.
it_user4866 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works with 51-200 employees
Mar 6, 2013
This is another one of those suites glued together from a myriad of acquisitions and it shows once you get under the hood.
reviewer1047339 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director / Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Jan 12, 2020
Customization and integration that you need to do to make the product fit your needs is very complex. It is not a product that somebody could easily pick up without any prior training or experience.
Learn what your peers think about IBM Tivoli NetCool. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1029846 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Baseband & RF Engineer at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Feb 26, 2020
The solution is not user-friendly.
PP
Senior Software Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Nov 4, 2020
In terms of improvement, I would like to see more AIOps, Artificial Intelligent Operations in the next release. IBM develops new features for Power BI or Cognos Analytics, which is good. As of now, we use Cognos Analytics, we are not using Power BI. They have the Insight concept but we don't like that.
reviewer1458369 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Executive Officer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Nov 25, 2020
The solution is too expensive.
AH
Sales Account Manager at Future Systems | ITSM Solutions
Dec 9, 2021
The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster.
OmBachu - PeerSpot reviewer
Founding Partner at Guild Systems
Jul 8, 2022
Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature.
Bassem Samir - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Transmission NOC Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Oct 26, 2022
UI is outdated, very old legacy.
reviewer1066044 - PeerSpot reviewer
Application Security Specialist at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
Nov 2, 2022
Tivoli NetCool is based on a Linux platform, it would be beneficial if they moved it to Windows because not everyone is acquainted with Linux.