AppNeta vs. Riverbed Modeler (discontinued)

AppNeta is awesome for getting site-to-site statistics or trying to find out why at 3 am every night, this server loses connectivity to another server in a different data center. But we have found the multiple bugs in the hardware hard to deal with when the devices are a 4-hour plane ride away and require someone to console into the device.

Incentivized

Riverbed Modeler is well suited for wireless, wired, ZigBee, and Cisco networks. All these scenarios are efficiently designed and simulated using Riverbed Modeler, as all the devices are available in its object pallet, so we just need to drag and drop for the best scenario design in the given dimensions. The simulation results are around 95% accurate. However, it is not suited for data security, as data encryption algorithms are not available in Riverbed Modeler.

Incentivized

• AppNeta provides detailed application availability & uptime.
• AppNeta provides great longitudinal data regarding how the applications perform including an overall grade or "AppDex."
• AppNeta sends notifications of service downtime that aids in technical dispatch.

Incentivized

• Allows the USE of C++ In Routing protocol of individual switch nodes
• Easy to use, Easy to setup a working network model, allows to even have computers and all sorts of peripherals like IP Printers etc
• You can stress test your network simulation, absolutely fantastic tool, bridges Monte Carlo with visual representations of the network in question
• Great Customer Support
• Good training articles available online, used as a staple in university setting.

Incentivized

• Hardware has a lot of bugs.
• Auto-updates cannot be turned off on the hardware, causing blips in monitoring.

Incentivized

• Riverbed Modeler needs to improve the scenarios of LAN MAN WAN, as the available scenarios under all of these follow a simple area structure that's not connected to the ISP when it comes to simulation. This generates dummy traffic.
• Riverbed Modeler also needs to work on the selection of result sets so that, as with most designed networks, we can select any result parameter to show. All the parameters are displayed, whether they are relevant or not. It needs to display only relevant result parameters to select.
• The back-end TCP/IP model needs more clarity to expose the structure to some changes.

Incentivized

Timely support is one of AppNeta's strong suits. But the ability to develop permeant fixes for issues within there product is where they lack.

Incentivized

We currently use Nagios/GroundWork and Cacti to perform network monitoring. AppNeta's UI is far superior.

Incentivized

The only thing comparable to OPNET is Packet Tracer, which is basic and very limited. Packet Tracer in terms of tool comparison between the two is like OPNET's stone-age relative.

Incentivized

• A reduction in network outages and length of network outages.
• More detailed post outage investigation available.

Incentivized

• It comes with a costly paid license, but simulating the network before actual deployment saves a lot of costs, in case after deployment we feel performance is not good and we need to change. This would waste a lot of money, but Riverbed saves this money.
• Its OPNET GURU academic edition is available free of cost, but with limited functionality, which is good for students in maximum case. This will degrade our sale of Riverbed Modeler.
• A one-time investment in Modeler saves a lot of cost regarding networks, topology, designing, and provides a lifetime license with updates.

Incentivized