I'm strongly pro-DeviceNet, to the point that around our sales district I'm referred to (to my face !) as the "DeviceNet Evangelist".
As a general rule, you need an interface and software from Manufacturer A to set up a Master device from Manufacturer A. Sometimes you don't need an interface to the network because a PLC is providing that interface (Omron and A-B's Logix systems).
Most slave devices do not require vendor-specific configuration software because they can be set up by an EDS-based configurator. Popular ones include RSNetworx for DeviceNet, NetTool-DN, Omron DeviceNet Configurator, and C-H Studio.
I can't live without my 1784-PCD card because it provides fast direct DeviceNet access for RSLinx and RSNetworx, as well as supporting my traffic analyzer tools. My lab has ISA and PCI cards from SST and Applicom, but neither of those support RSLinx.