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Microsoft System Center vs. Symantec Server Management Suite

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft System Center

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft System Center is an enterprise-grade IT Operations Management (ITOM) suite designed for the centralized administration of data center infrastructure, virtualized environments, and hybrid cloud workloads. The platform provides unified management across heterogeneous environments, including support for Windows Server, Linux, and Azure Stack HCI. System Center is Microsoft's ITOM stack for organizations that maintain a significant on-premise footprint, vs the company's Azure-based…

    $1,323

    per month

    Symantec Server Management Suite

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AThe Symantec Server Management Suite is an option for automating the management of servers and deployments.N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft System CenterSymantec Server Management Suite
    Editions & Modules
    Standard Edition
    $1323
    Datacenter Edition
    $3607
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft System CenterSymantec Server Management Suite
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft System CenterSymantec Server Management Suite
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Broadcom
    Chose Symantec Server Management Suite
    I have had exposure to SCCM before we moved to Altiris (aka SMP) and SMP does some things in a more complicated way, but there is a LOT of flexibility too. For example, with Patch Management, it's very similar to SCCM, you download the patches you want to install and then …
    Incentivized
    Chose Symantec Server Management Suite
    The decision to use Symantec was not my own but I believe it competes well against other products such as SCCM offering more features.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    91%
    Would buy again
    31 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    33 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    31 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    21 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    28 Answers
    No answers on this topic
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    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
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    User Ratings
    Microsoft System CenterSymantec Server Management Suite
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.3
    (58 ratings)
    7.0
    (2 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.4
    (5 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (14 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft System CenterSymantec Server Management Suite
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    For companies with more than 10 Windows devices and needing to standardize the OS, AV, access, share resources, and install software. SCCM is the way to go. This software is unnecessary if the business is all remote users and not in an office-type setting. There are cloud offerings or none to accomplish what a business needs.
    Incentivized
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    Broadcom
    The SMP suite is great at what it does, but it can be very complicated to learn how to get it to do what you want. It's a beast! However, when you learn how to the things you want to do, it comes as second nature and you complete them like they're supposed to be done that way. A lot of these things are done to be able to be completed a number of different ways. Take Patch Management, you can deploy patches automatically, via Jobs, or via the "Start Software Update Cycle Now" link in the SMP Agent!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Microsoft
    • Allows the grouping of devices by user.
    • Allows controlling updates being deployed to user devices.
    • Allows for the repurposing of machines by being able to load new or updated software on machines that already are in the system.
    • Allows us the ability to wipe a machine clean and restore it back to the configuration that was assigned the machine.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Broadcom
    • Software deployment through policy
    • Engage with customers for feedback
    • Understands the future needs of customers
    Read full review
    Cons
    Microsoft
    • The product could improve in the area of having better mechanisms in place with how the SCEP client is deployed/installed from the server on the management side. We have run into this firsthand with the client not installing on an endpoint, and then having to take the time to investigate why it was not installing.
    • A second improvement that can be made is to keep trying to improve the products detection rate for finding malware/viruses. The case can be made that there are some products out there that do a better job at this and have a higher detection rate.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Broadcom
    • The SMP solution is a beast. Each piece is complicated in itself let alone how everything ties together!
    • There is plenty of documentation online on how to perform a specific task, but you need to pay attention to what VERSION the article is written for. I've been halfway through implementing something only to hit a roadblock since I'm running a newer version and the option the article says to click on doesn't exist anymore...
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    Microsoft System Center Operations Manager is tightly integrated to Microsoft Windows servers os monitoring with great product support.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    Microsoft
    It is not user-friendly for the most part. With IT infrastructure, sometimes it cannot handle excess requests. Every few months, you will need an upgrade in terms of server resources to keep up with incoming alerts and requests. This does not happen all of the time, but it does happen when there are too many requests.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    There is a fair amount of documentation out there to help you when you have questions or run into issues with this product as well as tutorials on some of the more common tasks. Between the documentation and the overall ease of use we haven't had to deal with direct Microsoft support for this product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    Easy to install with intuitive interactive interface during the installation process a and integration to MS SQL was smooth
    Incentivized
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    Broadcom
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    We previously used a mix of FOG and Clonezilla to image machines. The biggest issues with these products is that changing one piece of the image required you to rebuild the entire image itself. These pieces of software also did not allow you to manage applications and Windows Updates, causing IT to have to constantly touch machines after they were imaged and update or manage them with a much more hands on approach.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Broadcom
    The decision to use Symantec was not my own but I believe it competes well against other products such as SCCM offering more features.
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • It has allowed the enterprise to standardize on a single platform for monitoring.
    • Easier troubleshooting of issues with Microsoft platforms.
    • Greater visibility of issues across platforms when applications are hosted in a mixed environment.
    • Additional costs for monitoring systems that are not directly supported with additional packs (iSeries, Linux on Power).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Broadcom
    • Being able to report on the majority of things you want all from one interface, makes it really easy to get the results you want.
    • Because my employer didn't provide training, it took working with support, reading technical documentation, and just playing around on my own to learn how to do certain things.
    • I've had a lot of help from the SMP Support staff and they're great people and very helpful!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots