With Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware, more and more enterprises are seeking full-stack VMware alternative solutions beyond virtualization, including alternatives to critical components like VMware NSX, which provides network security and visualization capabilities.

Arcfra Network Service (ANS), a key module of the Arcfra Enterprise Cloud Platform (AECP), delivers software-defined networking and security features. Together with the platform’s network virtualization and network traffic visualization capabilities, ANS offers comparable capabilities to NSX, while significantly simplifying operation and maintenance (O&M) and reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO).

What key capabilities does ANS offer? What advantages does it demonstrate? In the following sections, we’ll provide a detailed feature comparison between ANS and VMware NSX (including partial vSphere networking functions), and explore key advantages of replacing VMware NSX with ANS.

ANS vs. NSX: Feature Comparison and Analysis

As the networking and security module of the AECP, ANS offers key capabilities such as distributed firewall, load balancing, virtual private cloud (VPC) networking, and container networking. It supports both virtualized and containerized workloads, enabling unified network and security management across virtual machines (VMs) and containers. Integrated with the native hypervisor Arcfra Virtualization Engine (AVE) and Arcfra Operation Center (AOC), the multi-cluster management module that enables network traffic visualization, ANS allows users to manage virtual networks and security policies in a comprehensive and visualized manner.

Below is a detailed comparison of key features:

It’s clear that software-defined networking and security capabilities provided by AECP can match those of vSphere and NSX in areas such as network virtualization, security, and monitoring. In addition, Arcfra offers enhanced functionality for specific use cases, for example, enabling one-click isolation of individual VMs and allowing users to configure and monitor all network and security features within a single management platform. These optimizations streamline the user interface and operational workflow, further improving the overall management experience and strengthening the security of the virtualized environment.

ANS vs NSX: Key Advantages for VMware Alternative

Highly Similar Architecture Design: Minimizing Migration Complexity

The virtual distributed network in AECP clusters shares a highly similar architecture with VMware vSphere’s VDS. From overall architectural design and underlying implementation mechanisms to the sets of supported features, the two systems maintain a high degree of consistency. This architectural alignment offers users a familiar and seamless migration experience, significantly reducing the learning curve and time needed to adapt, ultimately enabling a smooth transition from the VMware environment.

All-in-One Management: Enhancing O&M Efficiency

VMware’s various networking and monitoring capabilities are distributed across multiple independent platforms, including vCenter, NSX Manager, Avi Load Balancer, and the Aria O&M Suite (which incorporates the former vRealize Network Insight and vRealize Log Insight). As a result, administrators are often required to switch between different interfaces, increasing operational complexity and the learning curve.

In contrast, AECP’s virtual networking offers a truly unified “all-in-one” management experience through the AOC. By fully integrating networking, security, and O&M functionalities into a single management console, AECP enables users to configure, monitor, and manage all network-related resources from one portal. This not only streamlines daily workflows but also reduces technical barriers, making network resource provisioning and security policy deployment more efficient and intuitive.

Zero Trust Security: Making Security Management Easier

Both ANS and NSX’s distributed firewalls are based on the Zero Trust security architecture, aiming to deliver fine-grained protection within the data center through micro-segmentation. This approach eliminates threats from unknown vulnerabilities and achieves the goal of “maximizing communication security with the minimal number of security rules.”

Building on this foundation, ANS offers a more intuitive and efficient implementation. It uses a three-part rule configuration model — consisting of policy objects, inbound rules, and outbound rules — combined with a clear, graphical interface that makes it easier for administrators to understand and manage network policies. In addition, ANS supports one-click isolation of VMs, enabling rapid response to security incidents and preventing potential threats from spreading.

Visualized Network Traffic Analysis: Collaborating on a Unified Platform

NSX provides two distinct network traffic analysis tools, each with a different focus:

• Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRealize Network Insight) focuses on global traffic monitoring. It is designed for traffic analysis and policy optimization across physical infrastructure, virtual networks, Kubernetes environments, and hybrid cloud deployments.
• NSX Intelligence, on the other hand, is centered on policy enforcement and validation. It enables users to quickly verify the effectiveness of security policies within NSX-managed environments and helps optimize east-west traffic control.

While both tools offer valuable capabilities, they operate on separate management platforms and lack integration. As a result, users must switch between different interfaces to access these features, adding unnecessary operations.

In contrast, AECP integrates network traffic visualization as part of its observability platform, offering a more streamlined solution through AOC. It provides intuitive visualizations — both in topology and tabular views — of communication across VM networks, system networks, and container networks, enabling users to quickly identify and troubleshoot network issues.

Furthermore, it works seamlessly with ANS’s distributed firewall capabilities, allowing users to automatically discover application topologies, monitor the effectiveness of security policies in real time, and access related logs. This tight integration helps users configure and manage security policies more effectively.

VCF Avoidance: Saving Subscription Cost

Moreover, with Broadcom’s new sales strategy, key features such as the NSX Distributed Firewall, NSX Intelligence, and Aria Operations for Networks (formerly vRNI) are now only available through the high-cost VCF portfolio. In contrast, ANS can be a more cost-effective alternative with comparable distributed firewall and traffic visualization solutions and significant cost savings for enterprises.

Explore ANS and Arcfra Enterprise Cloud Platform, save over 50% Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) compared with VMware.