Aruba Airwave vs IBM Tivoli NetCool comparison

Hewlett Packard Enterprise and IBM are both solutions in the Network Management Applications category. Hewlett Packard Enterprise is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while IBM is ranked #16 with an average rating of 7.7. Hewlett Packard Enterprise holds a 6.4% mindshare in NMA, compared to IBM’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Hewlett Packard Enterprise users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Aruba Airwave

Read 23 Aruba Airwave reviews

1,644 Views
1,139 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Read 13 IBM Tivoli NetCool reviews

647 Views
183 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Aruba Airwave

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 2, 2025

IBM Tivoli NetCool and Aruba Airwave are network management platforms. Tivoli NetCool has an advantage in customization and scalability, suitable for complex IT environments, while Aruba Airwave shines in wireless network management with robust Wi-Fi capabilities.

Features: Tivoli NetCool provides extensive monitoring, customizable event management, and a wide array of integrations. It supports vast applications, devices, and various protocols. Its customizable dashboards and real-time data insights enhance flexibility. Aruba Airwave offers robust Wi-Fi management, device monitoring, and zero-touch provisioning. Its multivendor support and orchestration feature streamline network tasks, improving efficiency.

Room for Improvement: Tivoli NetCool could benefit from simplifying its deployment and reducing initial setup complexity. Enhancements in initial user training and documentation would aid usability. Improved integration with non-IBM systems could expand its adaptability. Aruba Airwave may require enhanced documentation for advanced features, better real-time alert systems, and expanded compatibility with older hardware models to broaden applicability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tivoli NetCool's deployment is intricate and demands expertise, often needing skilled IT professionals. Its customer support is comprehensive, covering diverse IT needs. Aruba Airwave is noted for easier installation and faster setup, beneficial for wireless networks. Its customer service is appreciated for responsive assistance in wireless configurations.

Pricing and ROI: Tivoli NetCool involves higher initial costs due to customization requirements, but offers long-term ROI for large, complex IT setups. Aruba Airwave provides a cost-effective solution for organizations focused on wireless networks, delivering immediate value in Wi-Fi optimization and efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Aruba Airwave vs. IBM Tivoli NetCool Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Airwave vs. IBM Tivoli NetCool

April 2025

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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

Aruba Airwave

Ranking in Network Management Applications

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Ranking in Network Management Applications

16th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Network Management Applications category, the mindshare of Aruba Airwave is 6.4%, down from 9.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Tivoli NetCool is 2.0%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Management Applications

Featured Reviews

Prashant-Patel

Senior Presales Consultant - Networking Solutions at Mannai

The solution has multi-vendor support, and it can be used for network management

Aruba Airwave is an on-prem solution, so you have to manage it with your servers to be deployed. You can also deploy it on the cloud if you have your own private cloud. All the configuration guides and the different types of designs you need are available from Aruba Airwave's portal. I would recommend Aruba Airwave to other users. Overall, I rate Aruba Airwave ten out of ten.

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Petar Ganev

Senior Enterprise Monitoring Engineer at Commerzbank

Reliable for enterprise monitoring but no longer actively developed

There are problems with the latest security requirements because many things have changed in recent years, and now the security audits are very strict. And we need to switch to something else. We need to patch it constantly. Moreover, it is a very old tool and a little bit difficult to support. Otherwise, they work okay.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the main advantages is its ability to draw building floor plans and analyze Wi-Fi signal behavior in real-time."

"The Clarity feature makes it easy to use and understand what is going on with your network in a nice dashboard."

"What I like best about Aruba Airwave is its orchestration feature because it saves configuration time. I also like that it allows you to do ZTP installations for new Aruba equipment."

"This solution gives you a lot of reporting capabilities, and it has a very good interface."

"It's scalable because it's licensed per device and we bought licenses with each device. I would rate it a nine out of ten for scalability."

"AirWave definitely helps us troubleshoot and get to the root cause of the issues. It gives you an excellent indication of what's going on within your network at different locations. You can get to the area, take a look at the AirWave analysis, and make informed decisions."

"The most beneficial feature for network monitoring in Aruba Airwave is the Live Heat Map. It helps identify interferences, coverage issues, and user connectivity issues. The device management capability of Aruba Airwave is good. It provides end-to-end visibility from the user to the access point, the switch, and the internet breakout. From a monitoring, management, and orchestration standpoint, it is very effective and can manage any scale of deployment."

"This solution is definitely stable."

More Aruba Airwave pros

"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."

"The tool had many built-in automation capabilities."

"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."

"Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system."

"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."

"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."

"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool pros

Cons

"They should make it cheaper. By doing that, they can replace Cisco, which is also very expensive. If it is equivalent to Cisco in the features, with a reduced price, they can sell it more than Cisco."

"I would like to see is “AAS”. Not only Aruba APs with central, but NAC/ClearPass, AirWave, and everything licensed as a Service."

"We sometimes have problems with troubleshooting between the GUI and the CLI manipulation."

"The integration with other platforms like Cisco needs to be improved."

"The tool's expensive nature is an area of concern where improvements are required."

"I would try to integrate more products from different vendors in future releases. Because that's really good features that Aruba Airway has, but it's so limited."

"When upgrading hardware, there were technical issues with network interfaces and Red Hat, which required escalation to developers."

"I am not deeply familiar with the solution, so if I mention a feature, it might already exist, yet I may be unaware of it."

More Aruba Airwave cons

"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."

"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"The solution is not user-friendly."

"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."

"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."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"The solution is too expensive."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's device-based licensing. One device requires one license."

"AirWave is a very expensive solution. If you implement it in a wide range network, it will cost a lot. There is no option to sell it outside that price segment, which is a problem."

"Licensing and pricing are extremely straightforward."

"Run a 90 day free Proof of Concept (PoC) for each product by implementing and using it fully in your environment. This way you will be educated on its features, functionality, and manageability."

"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."

"Aruba Airwave is an expensive solution."

"The licensing is on an yearly basis."

"Aruba Airwave's licensing cost is not that expensive."

More Aruba Airwave pricing and cost advice

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"The price of the product is too expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

University

Computer Software Company

32%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Aruba Airwave?

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aruba Airwave?

I am not involved in the pricing or setup cost.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Aruba Airwave?

When attempting to copy a floor plan, it does not copy well, so I often have to redraw the walls. It's somewhat annoying since other Wi-Fi design software we use is easier for drawing walls and inc...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The tool had many built-in automation capabilities.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The main challenge is its licensing model, which is very complicated.

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco DNA Center vs Aruba Airwave

Compared 38% of the time

HPE Intelligent Management Center vs Aruba Airwave

Compared 25% of the time

Alcatel-Lucent OmniVista vs Aruba Airwave

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper vs Aruba Airwave

Compared 9% of the time

Aruba ClearPass vs Aruba Airwave

Compared 8% of the time

More Aruba Airwave Competitors

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 41% of the time

HPE Intelligent Management Center vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 22% of the time

OpenText Network Node Manager i vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 20% of the time

Cisco DNA Center vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 17% of the time

More IBM Tivoli NetCool Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Airwave

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

IBM Tivoli NetCool

April 2025

Download IBM Tivoli NetCool product report

Also Known As

No data available

Tivoli NetCool

Overview

Offering granular visibility into wired and wireless networks, AirWave is the only management platform designed with mobile devices and apps in mind. By proactively monitoring the health and performance of all things connected, AirWave lets IT gain the insights they need to support the digital workplace.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise

IBM Tivoli Netcool delivers near real-time, consolidated event management across business infrastructure, data centers, complex networks and IT domains. The software provides full management and automation to help you deliver continuous uptime of business services and applications.

IBM

Sample Customers

Henkel, University of Findlay, University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Iowa

Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)

Buyer's Guide

Aruba Airwave vs. IBM Tivoli NetCool

April 2025

Free Report: Aruba Airwave vs. IBM Tivoli NetCool

Find out what your peers are saying about Aruba Airwave vs. IBM Tivoli NetCool and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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