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ACF2 vs Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

ACF2
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Database Security (16th), Mainframe Security (6th)
Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
183
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (3rd), Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (13th), Business-to-Business Middleware (4th), API Management (8th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Data Governance (2nd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (2nd), Data Masking (2nd), Metadata Management (1st), Test Data Management Services (3rd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Database Development and Management Tools solutions, they serve different purposes. ACF2 is designed for Mainframe Security and holds a mindshare of 10.3%, down 11.3% compared to last year.
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC), on the other hand, focuses on Data Management Platforms (DMP), holds 16.3% mindshare, up 14.1% since last year.
Mainframe Security
Data Management Platforms (DMP)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1077621 - PeerSpot reviewer
A reliable, scalable product for security and auditing of our mainframe environment
It is a good product. It has been used for years. As long as it is configured correctly, it is a very stable product. It depends on how an institution or a company configures it. It depends on an institution's risk appetite. You need to make sure it is configured as per the concept of least privilege, and the logging features, detection and control mechanism, and other things like that are enabled. If you configure it to give access to the public, then there could be compromises. You should also have someone who independently checks it to make sure that it is configured keeping security in mind. If it has been configured for a while, when there are enhancements to the product or when you enhance it, you need to make sure that security is also looked at, and it is configured according to an institution's security policies. I would rate it a nine out of 10.
Raj Sethupathi - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers profiling and address standardization but can be complicated
Informatica Data Quality has its data warehouse, primarily using Oracle and some SQL databases. You need a database to host the data. The cleansed version of the data is stored in the data warehouse. It integrates with PowerCenter and other Informatica tools. The integration details can be complex, but a regional setup is involved in this process. Profiling smaller datasets, such as 10,000-50,000 records, worked fine. However, unexpected issues could arise with larger datasets, such as thousands of records or more, especially with tables containing many columns. Handling tables with fifty or more columns can be challenging, even in Excel. A mismatch in data types could cause the entire system to crash. Continual enhancements are being made to address these issues, which can be unique to specific industries like finance and healthcare.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The NOACCESS by default is another very good feature. Also, access rules are straightforward, and easy to understand."
"We use this tool to quickly assign privileges to different users as soon as they come in."
"I love their support. The support is great. They are number one."
"Logging and monitoring are most valuable. It is for the mainframe environment, and it is at the forefront for security and resilience."
"Excellent real-time reporting that saves time and resources."
"The advanced features like task flow and conditional integration are particularly useful."
"Informatica Data Quality is a product that is worth the money."
"The product's most valuable feature is the ability to select the data flow and lineage."
"Their new licensing is very flexible. With Informatica Cloud, you have plenty of items under the same umbrella, such as services, offerings, data quality, and data masking. You have also got master data management and API management. What I really like about them is that you don't need to go to Informatica and say that you need a data integration module. You would say that you need iPaaS or Informatica Cloud. They'll then try to understand your needs and give you IPUs, which are the processing units. If I purchased a hundred IPUs from Informatica as a customer, I can use 70 IPUs for data integration. I would also need data quality, so I can use 10 IPUs for data quality. I can use the remaining 20 IPUs for API management. Down the line, if I see that my initial data integration needs for the development phase are met, then out of the 70 IPUs assigned for data integration, I can use 30 IPUs for data masking. I can shuffle these numbers in any way within the Informatica Cloud umbrella for the tenure for which I have subscribed to these IPUs. I can use all services the way I want. This flexibility is what I really love about Informatica. It also has got good connectors."
"It provides all the typical MDM capabilities like deduplication and machine survivorship."
"It comes with lot of features and is a one-stop-shop solution for integration, data modeling, and data governance. Everything can be built under one particular umbrella. If any issues come up, then there won't be any blame game saying that it could be an integration issue or an MDM hub issue because it's wholly owned by Informatica. That's the biggest advantage of Informatica MDM over that of any other tools that are available on the market."
"The most valuable features are the structure masking and platform masking."
"The most valuable feature of Informatica Cloud Data Integration is Pushback. You are able to push the data to the solution itself, and it can handle the queries. It helps us a lot. With other tools, the burden is kept on the server."
 

Cons

"I would like my team and me to be able to use simple browsers, like Chrome, to be able to access mainframe data and provision users using the browser.​"
"They can work on its ability to work in a distributed environment. It's a mainframe product. As many companies move to the cloud, depending on what cloud models they choose, such as a public, hybrid, or private cloud, it should be deployable. I am not sure if it can be deployed on those platforms. It has been there since the '50s or '60s, and it's still scalable. It has survived all these years, and it's scalable to many platforms, but I don't know about the cloud."
"Reporting can sometimes include false positives."
"It needs longer rules. The max rule is 32K."
"This solution is hard to set up and its interface is not user-friendly. It's also not as stable, and the technical support takes a lot of time to solve simple problems."
"The on-prem version's functionalities may not be available on the cloud version."
"The product is not too user-friendly to do the configurations."
"One area where Informatica Cloud Data Integration could improve is in providing more accelerators for certain functionalities."
"The integration with other data management tools can be enhanced. For instance, there is no integration with tools like Collibra or Hubview."
"The configuration process is pretty lengthy and challenging and could be made easier to understand."
"The price modeling could be more flexible."
"There could be a lot more application integration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I have heard from customers that the product comes with a huge license cost."
"The price of Informatica Cloud Data Integration could be reduced."
"Informatica MDM's pricing is not cheap but comparable to other vendors."
"You can purchase licenses for this solution at different intervals. For example, annually or every three years. They recently changed their terms for licensing and now it is more flexible."
"Informatica MDM recently changed its pricing model. It's usage-based but I don't have much insight into the current pricing."
"It's a costly solution"
"Informatica MDM's price could be lower."
"We have licenses, and we are provided with certain particular services in the solution."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
33%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is a good length for a password in ACF2 so it's safe?
A set length of 12 characters can ensure the safety of a system. Longer passwords provide an added layer of security, especially when combined with other password complexity requirements. With a le...
Is ACF2 suitable for beginners?
ACF2 can be suitable for beginners with the right guidance and support. While it may have a steep learning curve for many due to its complexity, it offers extensive documentation and resources that...
What types of auditing and reporting capabilities does ACF2 offer?
ACF2's reporting capabilities are highly valuable. It offers various predefined reports that provide insights into our system's security posture. These reports include information on user access pr...
How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
Azure Data Factory is a solid product offering many transformation functions; It has pre-load and post-load transformations, allowing users to apply transformations either in code by using Power Q...
Which Informatica product would you choose - PowerCenter or Cloud Data Integration?
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge...
What are the biggest benefits of using Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
When it comes to cloud data integration, this solution can provide you with multiple benefits, including: Overhead reduction by integrating data on any cloud in various ways Effective integration ...
 

Also Known As

CA ACF2
ActiveVOS, Active Endpoints, BPM, Address Verification, Persistent Data Masking, Cloud Test Data Management, PIM, , Enterprise Data Catalog, Data Integration Hub, Cloud Data Integration, Data Quality, Cloud API and App Integration
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Sky, Rogers Communications
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, CyberArk, Broadcom and others in Mainframe Security. Updated: April 2025.
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