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IBM Tivoli NetCool vs OpenText Network Automation comparison

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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

IBM Tivoli NetCool
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (14th)
OpenText Network Automation
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Network Automation (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Tivoli NetCool is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 3.9%, up 2.3% compared to last year.
OpenText Network Automation, on the other hand, focuses on Network Automation, holds 3.2% mindshare, down 3.9% since last year.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Tivoli NetCool3.9%
Cisco DNA Center7.2%
DX Spectrum5.5%
Other83.4%
Network Management Applications
Network Automation Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OpenText Network Automation3.2%
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform14.7%
Cisco DNA Center9.9%
Other72.2%
Network Automation
 

Featured Reviews

Petar Ganev - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer1480065 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Operations Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Allows to upload necessary firmware to your device and perform the upgrade
With OpenText Network Automation, firmware can be uploaded for specific devices. If you need to upgrade a device, you can use this tool, though it may not apply to all devices. The software allows you to upload the necessary firmware to your device and perform the upgrade. Additionally, it enables you to check multiple devices for specific configurations and automates the search process and the configuration of multiple devices.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."
"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."
"Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system."
"The solution is a complete package; it has various useful elements including inventory management and incident management packaged inside it, and anything is possible with Tivoli since it is quite a robust system that offers a lot of useful integration capabilities."
"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."
"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."
"NetCool has a huge database that can collect and process about one million alarms a day."
"The solution is very fast, there's no lag or delay between the IBM solution and the other solutions like Huawei and Nokia."
"When compared with SolarWinds, it is more user-friendly, and tasks can be completed more quickly."
"Micro Focus tools are mature tools, that are well developed."
"With OpenText Network Automation, firmware can be uploaded for specific devices. If you need to upgrade a device, you can use this tool, though it may not apply to all devices."
"It's great because you have a one-unit solution to aggregate network data, so it's one entry point for getting all the configuration into the same dashboard or same application."
"Pushing the network configuration to bulk devices. This saves a considerable amount of time that the engineer spends in pushing the network configuration."
"We're able to set security policies and configure devices exactly how we want them."
 

Cons

"This is another one of those suites glued together from a myriad of acquisitions and it shows once you get under the hood."
"The solution is too expensive."
"The product is pretty costly. It's definitely not the least expensive option."
"UI is outdated, very old legacy."
"I think the UI should be updated and made more presentable and eye-catching. Compared to NCE in Huawei, NSN in Nokia, the UiPath and Ubiquiti, it feels very old legacy."
"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."
"From a customer perspective, it is quite an expensive solution to initially implement and then support."
"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."
"We've found some problems that may or may not have to do with our infrastructure. There are also some software defects that we've found."
"Level one administration task can be defined in Micro Focus Network Automation but it could be more simplified."
"The tool performs slowly."
"We just spoke with some of the product managers. We are getting some serious performance issues that have some serious repercussions for support."
"When compared to other automation tools that are available in the market, more can be done to improve this solution."
"Compatibility of the devices needs to be enhanced, as it seems to be limited."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"The price of the product is too expensive."
"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."
"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."
"Pricing is reasonable, but if you compare it with other network Operation Management tools that are available on the market, it's expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Performing Arts
15%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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Also Known As

Tivoli NetCool
Micro Focus Network Automation, HPE Network Automation
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)
Tech Mahindra, Avea, China Merchants Bank, NNIT, Distinctive Software Solutions, Virgin Media, NEC Australia, Osiatis, Hostworks, Retegal, Allianz Shared Infrastructure Services SE (ASIC), State of Kansas Division of Information Services and Communications (DISC)
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Fortinet, Skyline Communications and others in Network Management Applications. Updated: October 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.