Accedian Skylight vs Broadcom DX Application Performance Management vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Accedian Skylight, Broadcom DX Application Performance Management, and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic and others in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability.
To learn more, read our detailed Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Report (Updated: April 2024).
769,479 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The ability to measure performance end-to-end across the cloud data center allows us to take corrective action to keep our channels online.""I always have the Skylight dashboard on one of my screens... Now you can create your own dashboard, specific to an application, specific to a server, or to something else.""The response times, with the performance, are really interesting too, where you can see the packet loss.""It is about finding operational problems. When sites go down, we try to determine who is at fault. While there is not much finger-pointing, the solution is just trying to analyse when there is an outage and where do we start looking to fix it. The very nature of why organization chooses to use the solution is to accelerate the meantime to resolution and find where problems lie to get them rectified as quickly as possible.""I think the analytics features are okay. My customer also likes the interface, the GUI, because it's easy to operate.""The feature I used to like the most was its ability to decode layer seven protocols, although this is becoming less useful now that encryption is so widespread.""Capturing traffic [is very interesting]. Currently, with our configuration, we don't capture the payload of the packets, just the header. But when we want the body, the payload of the packets, we can do a PCAP, and then analyze it within Wireshark.""The performance of Accedian Skylight is better than other vendors."

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"An application is quite complicated in the environment of a software reliability engineer, because our applications are like a black box. Thanks to CA APM we are able to transform this black box to a gray box by using the transaction trace functionality services. For me it's the most valuable service of the solution.""The most valuable feature of Broadcom DX Application Performance Management is its very light model with monitoring of servers and network items.""Crash analytics goes down to the level of code you need to check.""It helps us prioritize application performance issues. It has assisted triage where we can drill down and see where exactly the problem lies.""Some of its valuable features include transaction traces, dashboards, and metric grouping to see combined data.""We make custom dashboards for our development areas so they can understand how busy traffic affects their application with traffic. They can see how traffic directly affects their application in positive or negative ways.""It covers from mainframe, all the way to dotcom, for example. CA currently covers Amazon, Microsoft Azure, Office 365 monitoring.""The feature that I have found the most valuable is its user interface."

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"The more valuable feature of this solution is the Exchange feature.""The component and cable monitoring are good. SolarWinds is more intuitive and user-friendly than AppDynamics. The AppDynamics console is more complex because it's a more feature-rich solution, so it's not easy for somebody to pick it up.""Hardware health: It allows for proactive monitoring of the hardware health and is a game changer.""Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time.""Management Console - Managing service to each server enrolled in the Solarwinds is much easier. Using a web base console, you can control your service much convenient way. There is no need to login remotely. It save a lot of time and effort.""AppInsight for SQL: Enables us to see the relevant error log entries on the same page as performance parameters.""AppInsight. Provides a simple way to get very in-depth monitoring configured for our most popular applications. Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint.""I find it to be a strong product suite, particularly when you need a comprehensive monitoring tool."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Pros →

Cons
"Some of the Skylight applications are a little newer, and they're still moving through initial revs. There are certain bugs, but nothing is insurmountable... It will just take a little bit of time for their user interface to get a little bit better.""The UI interface of Accedian Skylight could improve.""It needs the possibility to export data because it is not easy to see larger data sets, e.g., for one month. It would be interesting to export data into a PDF or dashboard to keep a history of the situation.""This solution is expensive compared to some others.""There should be an option to update and upgrade the solution to the new version without having to re-buy it. I have clients switching to other solutions. The old solution is great, but if you change your license to a new one, you have to almost re-buy it completely.""The Accedian Skylight user interface still has room for improvement.""If you want a new version, you go to the website. The hardest part is finding the link, where is that .bin file? Sometimes it's pretty hidden in a document... it's hidden in the release notes or in another file somewhere. And it's usually not on the first page either.""Because of the policies in Vietnam, we cannot connect the system to the Accedian cloud. It would be good if Accedian could provide a local cloud. In the next release, I would like them to focus on improving and adding more reporting features. This will help the operations teams."

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"Dashboards need to be improved in order to make them self-explanatory.""Java Console uses too much memory.""The integration with CA Spectrum is quite difficult to create, and it is also only one way, only being used to view alarms coming from CA APM.""The upgrade was complex. The documentation could have been a little bit better, but other than that, it was okay.​""The solution still needs the administrator of APM to know a lot more to configure and control everything. So it's a headache for the administrator to do the daily jobs.""System incident analysis and performance monitoring need improvement.""Technical support is slow to respond and also asks redundant questions.""The APM SQL feature doesn't perform like we would like it to. I know that's a new feature with 10.5, so it may be one of those things that gets a little better, but it should run faster."

More Broadcom DX Application Performance Management Cons →

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve the server monitoring and the web application monitoring features are not good. Microsoft SCOM has better server monitoring.""The major concern in the product revolves around application performance monitoring since end-to-end application monitoring is not possible with the tool.""Mapping interactions between systems.""The templates could use improvement. Currently, they are quite complex. They should have drag-and-drop functionality instead. It would make it easier to use.""In terms of the dashboards on offer, they should work to improve them. The types of dashboards that you get in terms of the graphs on offer aren't ideal right now.""Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges. They have this in two ways. There is the report writer, which is the backend, and we also have web reports, which are on the console. So, they have removed the report writer for the backend reports, and we are making use of the web console, but most of the users are not finding it very interesting to use the frontend reports. I would like them to bring back the report writer. That's the key area within it to improve on the reporting. If they can bring back the report writer, then most users will actually be comfortable. I have some customers who are trying to export their report to an Excel format, but it is not possible because they said any report that has been done from the web console cannot be exported to Excel, but most of the customers need to export their reports to Excel. That's one area they need to work on.""Nodes in Azure are able to be monitored with the use of agents, but this does not apply to cloud service offerings that are not node based.""PerfStack can be made more effective. I am sure SolarWinds already has a plan for the same in coming versions."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "If you look into Riverbed, it's a licensing nightmare. You need to pay for every type of analysis... If you don't look into licensing, Riverbed and SolarWinds are pretty comparable. But if you look into licensing it would not be smart to go for either of them. On the pure, bare-metal basis, it's the same. But when you get the bare metal and a few basic licenses, then you need all those other licenses just to be sure that there's no issue... One of the great things about Skylight is you have them all, and you actually need them all."
  • "It's not for free, clearly. But on the other hand, it offers very interesting functionality. We pay around €100,000."
  • "Pricing is a little bit expensive."
  • "We understand there's a significant cost difference, but have yet to investigate fully."
  • "The pricing is cheaper than other competing products, which is better for our budgets."
  • "It provides value and the cost is not huge."
  • "The pricing of Accedian Skylight is really good. The sensors are low cost. Their model to analytics for sensors is by license, endpoint, or session. With the probes for their analytics, if they get deployed virtually, they are free. The licensing is only based on flows. So, you can effectively deploy probes everywhere in your network. Then, if you want to look at a specific type of traffic, you can enter into it with a very low cost license. You can just use things like spam ports, mirrors, TAPs, and aggregators to optimize what sort of traffic you send to these analysis tools. Then, if you want to start looking at more, you can up your licensed as you go. You are not getting forced into expensive appliances or subscription models."
  • "The price is competitive overall, depending on the type of customer."
  • More Accedian Skylight Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Depends on the size of the product you need."
  • "Althougth it is a bit expensive, it is really worth it"
  • "There is some research needed to determine licensing costs, based on the number of DataPower instances for the Nastel agent, for example."
  • "Negotiate a lot, but do not forget to buy the product because it is worth it."
  • "Pricing and licensing are not issues."
  • "On pricing, CA is very competitive. I think that's going to help in the long run."
  • "Setup costs are quite competitive relative to other solutions, and simpler."
  • "Dynatrace is the most expensive of these tools followed by AppDynamics which is "medium-expensive." CA APM is a bit lower in price than either Dynatrace or AppDynanics... In my opinion, if you can afford it, go for AppDynamics instead of CA APM."
  • More Broadcom DX Application Performance Management Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I have always said SolarWinds is very “proud” of their products, meaning they are expensive. I cannot afford to purchase all the licenses I need for all the SolarWinds products."
  • "When planning for the number of licenses to purchase, make sure you understand all of the elements within an application required to really understand performance well. In our case, we quickly came to the conclusion that an unlimited license for SAM was the way to go."
  • "Nagios XI, WhatsUpGold, Uptime Software, PRTG, Manage Engine, and SpiceWorks are the other tools that have lower pricing and licensing costs. However, they can't compete with SolarWinds when it comes to the features and functionality that SolarWinds can provide."
  • "I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."
  • "Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
  • "SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."
  • "Understanding the counts of objects to monitor will determine the licensing need. In terms of pricing, it’s not cheap but it’s not expensive as larger vendors whose products don’t have all the features or integrations."
  • "The product might cost you $30,000 USD to buy, but scaling this solution requires the purchase of additional polling engines at $20,000 USD each."
  • More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:The feature I used to like the most was its ability to decode layer seven protocols, although this is becoming less… more »
    Top Answer:The solution was previously well-regarded, but after being acquired by Accedian, the prices have significantly… more »
    Top Answer:There should be an option to update and upgrade the solution to the new version without having to re-buy it. I have… more »
    Top Answer:Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...there is a very easy way to deal with it by adding more… more »
    Top Answer:The pricing structure should be based on memory or CPU usage rather than the number of agents, as it makes the solution… more »
    Top Answer:The area of improvement is related to the areas of application onboarding and instrumentation, where the product has… more »
    Top Answer:The price is too high. The tool is overpriced. We don't need all the features. The product must minimize the features… more »
    Top Answer:The biggest pain point is root cause analysis. It is difficult to analyze, assess, and warn my IT department about what… more »
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    Also Known As
    Accedian SkyLIGHT PVX, SkyLIGHT PVX, SecurActive, Performance Vision
    DX APM, CA APM, CA NetQoS Performance Center, Wily Introscope, CA Wily APM, CA App Experience Analytics, CA AXA
    SolarWinds SAM
    Learn More
    Overview

    Accedian provides performance analytics and end user experience solutions for on-premise, cloud and hybrid IT infrastructures. Accedian SkylightTM delivers unified network and application performance monitoring (NAPM) visibility across the entire application and network chain, with best in class resolution and velocity. This enables Accedian customers to assure their business-critical digital infrastructure and unlock the full productivity of their users.

    Broadcom DX Application Performance Management is a cutting-edge next-generation APM that goes beyond the traditional aspects of what other APMs provide by offering fully integrated AIOPS (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) capabilities embedded in the solution. This enables Broadcom DX Application Performance Management better opportunities to detect anomalies faster, correctly anticipate behavior, and perform intuitive automatic corrective processes. The solution is able to provide comprehensive full stack end-to-end monitoring and deliver complete visibility and a nearly flawless user experience.

    Broadcom DX Application Performance Management Benefits

    Broadcom DX Application Performance Management has many valuable key features. Some of its most useful features include:

    • Improves visibility: Users gain complete 360-degree visibility with all applications, infrastructure, and end users in modern, traditional, and all cloud-based environments.
    • Continuous improvement: Intuitive automated feedback is provided throughout the entire software development lifecycle.
    • Scalability: The solution is easily scalable to the enterprise level with very easy to use administration.
    • Improved user experience: The solution provides intuitive dynamic insights concerning overall application performance and across the complete user journey.

    Broadcom DX Application Performance Management Features

    There are many benefits to implementing Broadcom DX Application Performance Management. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Custom personalized dashboards: Users are able to create their own specific views based on unique task-driven individualized requirements. This allows for comprehensive intuitive cross-domain analysis of the entire ecosystem and application usage from both synthetic and real user perspectives.
    • Fast, straightforward deployment: The solution offers an automated, zero-touch deployment process that better facilitates the monitoring and discovery of cloud-based and container applications. 
    • Improved administration processes: Agent administration and overall lifecycle processes are simplified, making configurations, deployments, and upgrades very simple.
    • Intuitive analysis: The solutions AIOPS processes provide for inherent root-cause detection and anomaly discovery to diagnose potential issues or problems immediately.
    • Improved visibility: Presented views are task-relevant to facilitate improved group topologies, and time-based to display the impact of performance anomalies. 
    • Improved mapping: Relationship mapping enables users to visualize all aspects of the environment with options to deep dive across entire applications, network layers, and infrastructure. 
    • Application support: The solution has functionality with Java, .Net, PHP, Node.js, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Google Cloud, and more. 
    • Flexibility: The solution is available both on premises and as a SaaS.

    Reviews from Real Users

    “The most valuable feature of Broadcom DX Application Performance Management for me is transaction monitoring. “ A Peerspot user who is an Applications Engineer at a financial services firm.

    “The most valuable features are the low overhead, the ability to monitor production on 24/7 principle, the ability to decrease time to discover the point of failure in the IT infrastructure or the application environment in a short period of time, reporting for analyzing the performance of the application for improving the code optimizing process.” A.Jurisic, CEO at Pio Pet d.o.o.

    “What is most valuable about this solution is that it completely monitors code-level visibility. We benefit from this as we're able to capture any performance issues from an application, then raise and forward those issues to the applicable team more quickly.” S. Doddi, APM consultant at Tech Mahindra Limited 

    SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers powerful application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros, enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues faster. Do not let slow applications and downtime impact your end-users and business services. Pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack. SolarWinds SAM is affordable and easy to deploy, use, and customize. You can automatically discover your system's environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

    Sample Customers
    T-Systems, Thomson Reuters, Bordeaux Metropole, CGI, Citadelle Regional Hospital Center, Lorraine Institute of Oncology, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Groupe BPCE, Group S, Splitpoint, Horus-Net, Audatex, Indexis, Province de Liège, EASI, Spie Batignolles, Faymonville
    Lexmark, Intermountain Healthcare, National Australia Bank, BBVA Compass Bank, Innovapost, Dansk Supermarked Group, U.S. Cellular, Orange, Cetip
    Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Healthcare Company16%
    Comms Service Provider16%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Government11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company37%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm38%
    Insurance Company13%
    Energy/Utilities Company11%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company15%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Insurance Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Construction Company13%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    Retailer7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization40%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business46%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise32%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise10%
    Large Enterprise67%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise71%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business24%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise67%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business11%
    Midsize Enterprise48%
    Large Enterprise41%
    Buyer's Guide
    Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
    April 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic and others in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability. Updated: April 2024.
    769,479 professionals have used our research since 2012.