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Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs Infraon IMS comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

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

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabri...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
24th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Infraon IMS
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
83rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (32nd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (56th), Cloud Monitoring Software (48th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Infraon IMS is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM)0.6%
Infraon IMS0.5%
Other98.9%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Jagdev Dhaliwal - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Flow monitoring has improved planning for east-west traffic and real-time capacity decisions
Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) helps to understand the flows and data plane capacities, which are the primary use cases. Usually, people struggle with east-west traffic flow when they need to decide on firewalls or products. People typically understand north-south traffic flows but usually miss the east-west traffic flows in data centers. I was focusing more on this so that people can accordingly plan, such as after F5, the number of servers, the number of sessions needed, and whether we need to plan the interface for groups from the line capacity perspective. This kind of information was valuable to us. The real-time telemetry feature was beneficial. When experiencing performance issues, I could determine if there were any issues related to flows or areas where bottlenecks were occurring.
it_user1631601 - PeerSpot reviewer
GTM Manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Our process efficiency has improved by having all the information in one place, which has reduced manpower
The product is great. We integrated the ticketing tool with the monitoring tool. The agent ID creation is very easy when using this tool. It is so user-friendly. The user interface is good and also the pricing is great. The user interface is good, even a business user or layman can raise a ticket. They provide an all-in-one monitoring tool. If an issue happens, it gets integrated with the email, then proactively that ticket is being raised, which is good. The reporting is good. It is very clear. It is a customized report; however you want it, you can customize it. We use the solution’s role-based dashboards. The head of IT wants to use it so he can see holistically what is happening, e.g., what are the tickets being raised, what is a major issue, and what escalations are happening. There are different dashboards that are customized. For our head of IT, we made a separate dashboard. Then, for the executives, we made a separate dashboard based on time, like hourly or daily. All these reports were customized. While they didn't provide a BI dashboard, they provide a kind of graphical dashboard for whatever the issue is. Once you click on a particular ticket, it drills down to the issue, what it is and when the issue was raised. The drill down is good. It is more like a business intelligence (BI) tool. You can just scroll and zoom in. It goes deep into the issue. Once you click a particular dashboard, it will take you to the next page, then it takes you to the issue. Infraon IMS provides workflow automation for real-world use cases. This makes our work easier. It is just drag and drop (no coding) to build the workflows. For example, a particular ticket is being raised. It gets routed to three important IT executives within our team. From our team, it gets routed to the next level. The learning curve is good. Initially, there were no issues. As soon as the users saw the product, they understood what the product was. There wasn't any kind of training required for this product because it is very straightforward.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I don't have to rely on the on-site engineer who can do the configuration. I can have our team just plug the devices and perform remotely. I can also do the templates."
"After installation, you almost forget that it is working."
"The automation capability is more than enough. It depends on how we consider and integrate the automation engine. We need to ensure the automation engine and then how to perform it. It depends on the policy making, API integration, and other integrations."
"The solution is very stable and it has never crashed on us."
"More than good enough as we have new clients everyday connected using this product"
"The product has excellent stability."
"It uses push technology, which pushes the changes to all relevant devices to ensure they are updated accordingly."
"Automation of the ILS."
"The most valuable feature is alerting. We get email alerts when a link is down that tell us which device is having a problem."
"The role-based dashboards provide data points and charts and topology diagrams in a single window. It's like a spider web, where the application, connectivity, and everything is defined for each user of those applications."
"Being an engineering product, the customization is easy for us compared to SolarWinds and ManageEngine."
"Infraon IMS allows us to do several things from a single window, which is important to us."
"The backup, restore, and comparison features are all good."
"We use the solution to automatically trigger processes to help us resolve issues. The whole IT process has been automated, such as trying to map all the users and the escalation process. So, if any issue happens, we get an SMS and WhatsApp of the report. If there is a critical issue this has to be sorted out, like the entire data center being down, then there is an alarm."
"Overall, it's a wonderful one-stop ITSM solution for infrastructure."
"The feature that I like the most and the best part is the customization."
 

Cons

"We need better performance and reliability."
"The technical support is a gap for us as a company."
"The configuration is too complicated and you have to create templates and use a lot of menus."
"If the customer thinks about using additional solutions, Cisco should make sure they are not left out."
"The initial setup is challenging."
"It's very expensive."
"Data Center Network Manager is a little complex because it includes a lot of hardware to be installed, so making this simpler would be an improvement."
"More integration features would be beneficial."
"There might be some features in other products that are currently not there in Everest IMS and can be included. I have not yet compared it with any other product."
"We have enquired if there are any possibilities of monitoring non-IPBS devices."
"The GUI is in need of improvement. It is not drag-and-drop or easy to use."
"This solution is available in SaaS. The reason why we have not gone to SaaS is they do not have a country-specific separation of assets."
"I would like to have the option to add a new device or meet with the next release. Right now, it needs to be done from the backend which results in a heavy reliance on R&D."
"I would like to see an integrated view of Infraon IMS and Infraon Desk. It would be very helpful if that were integrated into the solution."
"This solution is available in SaaS. The reason why we have not gone to SaaS is they do not have a country-specific separation of assets. There are GDPR and other requirements that might require country-specific sensitive information to be filtered as well as other things that need to be taken care of. Normally, if we need to do any compliance, like ISO27000 compliance, they don't have such a report within their system. This kind of report is missing from their SaaS. That is one of the reasons that we have gone to the on-prem version, where I am assured that my data is secure."
"Technical support could use some improvement in terms of their response times and diagnostic accuracy."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar platform across all domains."
"We usually opt for a yearly plan, commonly for three or five years upfront. Some customers may not utilize all the features included in the product, and this can lead to them paying for functionalities they don't need."
"The price of Cisco Data Center Network Manager is expensive compared to other vendors on the market."
"On average, Data Center Network Manager's pricing isn't too costly unless you choose a premier license."
"The product is licensed with contracts that work on a yearly basis rather than a monthly model."
"I would say that the pricing offers great value for the money."
"The solution is very expensive."
"When we purchase a Nexus box, the MDS CM license comes with it."
"I think that the pricing for this solution is reasonable and varies by number of devices."
"Licensing is calculated on a per-user basis."
"The pricing is reasonable, given the features that they provide."
"The cost model is within our budget. I have less than 180 critical assets, but the moment that I have 1,000 assets, then the license model is totally different. I don't know whether they are capable of handling that kind of a load. They could revisit the licensing model."
"If you are looking for the best product with the best price, Infraon is the best product. We evaluated five to six products and finally felt Infraon was better because of the pricing model, especially because it was more flexible."
"We pay for a number of devices on the accounts and since it is on-premises, we pay the maintenance charges for the year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Construction Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise16
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
The tool is always expensive, but their service, product quality, and support are good. We're happy with it, but it's still an expensive solution. There are cheaper alternatives but no similar plat...
What needs improvement with Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
I do not believe it integrated well with different infrastructures for hybrid environments. I am uncertain because we have never attempted that in our environment, so they could perform better in t...
What is your primary use case for Cisco Data Center Network Manager?
The main use case for URL filtering with PAN-DB is that it performs quite well. Earlier, when I started in 2012, there was a Blue Coat product available during that period. I am not certain whether...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
It actually depends on the exact purpose or requirements. Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better from a cloud monitoring or APM monitoring perspective. You can check...
 

Also Known As

Cisco Data Center Network Manager
Everest IMS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Banco de Guayaquil, Cox Communications, Kuwait Petroleum Italia, Roper St. Francis, University of British Columbia
Airtel, BSNL, BlackBox Corporation, ACT, Geojit, Canara Bank, Federal Bank, Corporation Bank, Birla Corporation, CESC Limited, Mphasis, GAIL, Udaan, Cowrks, SEBI, PowerGrid, ION, Summit Communications, National Information Technology Center (Nepal), Bhutan National Bank, Servion T, Greenlam, Translab Technologies, CMSIT Services, Nelco, HPCL, Navitas Life Sciences etc. 
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (Formerly DCNM) vs. Infraon IMS and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.