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Gartner ReprintLICENSED FOR DISTRIBUTIONCritical Capabilities for Network Performance Monitoring and DiagnosticsPublished: 21 February 2018 ID: G00326771Analyst(s): Vivek Bhalla, Sanjit Ganguli, Pankaj PrasadSummaryNPMD tools enable organizations to measure and improve IT services. To choose the correct tool, I&O leadersresponsible for network performance should determine which of the popular NPMD products are best-suitedto their requirements and maturity level.OverviewKey FindingsThe profiles of key users of network performance monitoring and diagnostics (NPMD) tools are diversifying,with three out of five primary stakeholders residing outside of network operations.NPMD tools are increasingly positioned to provide insight into the usage of applications and the activities ofend users, including their impact on business objectives.Navigational search, contextual workflow and analytics-based functionalities continue to become morebroadly available in NPMD tools, but their degree of sophistication varies widely among vendors.An increasing number of vendors focus on non-NPMD functions, such as infrastructure availabilitymonitoring and network fault management, at the expense of the core performance capabilities that mostI&O organizations require.RecommendationsTo optimize IT operations and DevOps to drive business value, I&O leaders should:Ensure solutions are applicable beyond a NetOps 2.0 context by collaborating with stakeholders and expertsfrom outside I&O when evaluating an NPMD tool.Support bandwidth-intensive services (such as VoIP and UCM) by deploying NPMD technology to monitornetwork demand and manage capacity planning.Cultivate collaboration across IT operations by using the analytics and contextual user interface drill-downworkflows embedded in NPMD tools to share data across domain groups.Strike a cost-effective balance by using packet-based inspection for mission-critical, granular insight, as wellas flow collection techniques for holistic, infrastructurewide coverage.Strategic Planning es%202018.htm[14/03/2018 10:02:57]

Gartner ReprintBy 2023, 50% of buyers of NPMD tools will reside outside traditional network operations organizations,increasing from 20% in 2018.What You Need to KnowThis document was revised on 21 February 2018. The document you are viewing is the corrected version. Formore information, see the Corrections page on gartner.com.NPMD tools support many roles within IT and, increasingly, also support business initiatives. Measuring andreporting on network performance is crucial to ensure that the proper steps are taken so performance stays atan acceptable level. It can also highlight opportunities to improve business outcomes for internal end usersand external customers through improved network and application delivery. Finally, NPMD tools enableimproved network capacity management, thereby lowering capital investment for networking equipment andservices.Gartner has identified five key capabilities for NPMD tools: endpoint, component and link monitoring; servicedelivery monitoring; diagnostics; analytics; and integration and interoperability. These capabilities are critical tothe success of five different types of stakeholders commonly involved in this endeavor: network operator,network architect, IT operations manager, IT operations generalist and the line-of-business user. Note howthree of the five stakeholders are roles beyond traditional network operations. These capabilities serve as theprimary basis of this analysis and together play a key role in network and IT operations. This research focuseson the competitiveness of NPMD solutions themselves, as opposed to the strengths and cautions of thesupplying vendors that are covered in the companion Magic Quadrant research. Readers can use this CriticalCapabilities research and role-centric perspective to inform their own analysis and determine the best fit fortheir objectives and organization.This analysis complements the "Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics," whichdefines the market and highlights a broad set of factors, including the corporate viability, vision, marketing andgeographic focus of the vendors that offer these NPMD products. We strongly recommend that organizationsuse this research in conjunction with the Magic Quadrant, inquiries with Gartner analysts and other Gartnerresearch to define their requirements and select the solutions that match their needs.AnalysisCritical Capabilities Use-Case GraphicsFigure 1. Vendors' Product Scores for the Network Operator Use 018.htm[14/03/2018 10:02:57]

Gartner ReprintSource: Gartner (February 2018)Figure 2. Vendors' Product Scores for the Network Architect Use 018.htm[14/03/2018 10:02:57]

Gartner ReprintSource: Gartner (February 2018)Figure 3. Vendors' Product Scores for the IT Operations Generalist Use 018.htm[14/03/2018 10:02:57]

Gartner ReprintSource: Gartner (February 2018)Figure 4. Vendors' Product Scores for the IT Operations Manager Use 018.htm[14/03/2018 10:02:57]

Gartner ReprintSource: Gartner (February 2018)Figure 5. Vendors' Product Scores for the Line-of-Business User Use 018.htm[14/03/2018 10:02:57]

Gartner ReprintSource: Gartner (February 2018)VendorsAccedian (Performance Vision) Performance Vision 4.2Founded in 2004, Performance Vision is a privately owned subsidiary of Accedian. Performance Vision isheadquartered in Paris, France. Performance Vision's NPMD offering, Performance Vision v4.2, was evaluatedfor this research. This product is an on-premises hardware and software offering.Performance Vision is delivered as a lightweight capture appliance and a data store appliance. The captureappliance is focused on data collection, traffic analysis and sending metrics to the data store appliance. Thedata store appliance provides the data visualization and reporting capabilities, while also assisting with datacollection. Performance Vision demonstrates granularity and performance at scale, with significant attention tothe visualization of data to facilitate easier diagnosis of performance anomalies. Performance Vision relies onpassive data collection methods for monitoring. The tool provides transaction visibility across webapplications, databases, name services, file transfer and storage, and VoIP. The emphasis of the %202018.htm[14/03/2018 10:02:57]

Gartner Reprintrelease focused on scalability and distributed environments. The latest release, in April 2017, delivered furthersupport for a distributed deployment model with the introduction of a new hardware microappliance, designedfor smaller remote sites. Additional enhancements include support for Citrix performance analysis andNexthink integration.Gartner's survey of end users rated Performance Vision strongly for its ease of implementation and upgrade,and maintenance and reliability. The same survey rated Performance Vision poorly in terms of integration withthird-party tools and analytics. When asked what other vendors were considered when selecting their NPMDsolution, Performance Vision end users cited SolarWinds most frequently, followed by Riverbed.This product is well-suited for midsize enterprises that require a small deployment model footprint withvisibility across applications and the network layers. Based on Gartner's analysis, the product is best aligned tothe line-of-business user role.Note: Performance Vision was acquired by Accedian in December 2017. The change in ownership occurredafter the analysis conducted for this research took place.AppNeta Performance Manager 10.8Founded in 2011, AppNeta is a privately owned company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. AppNeta'sNPMD product, AppNeta Performance Manager 10.8, was evaluated for this research. This product is a SaaSand on-premises offering.AppNeta Performance Manager consists of three components: delivery, experience and usage. Together, thesecomponents have several functions, including synthetic transaction monitoring that has been developed tomonitor SaaS-based applications in addition to traditional on-premises applications. Also included is pathanalytics, employing active monitoring and diagnostics. Finally, application usage analytics is done using deeppacket inspection capabilities. Enabling these use cases are physical, virtual or software monitoring points thatmust be installed at each remote location. Preconfigured VM and software monitoring points can bedownloaded, or preconfigured hardware can be supplied by AppNeta. Pricing has been simplified compared toearlier offerings, with customers paying an annual fee per monitoring application and location, with additionalone-time charges for monitoring points.AppNeta's NPMD solution focuses on ease of implementation, low total cost of ownership and visibility ofapplications irrespective of where they may be deployed or hosted. The solution is a modular public- andprivate-cloud-hosted service, with the majority of end users on the public cloud offering.Gartner's survey of end users rated AppNeta among the highest in terms of ease of upgrading as well asendpoint, component and link monitoring. The same survey indicated that AppNeta was rated poorly in termsof satisfaction with the cost of maintenance and integration with third-party tools. When asked what othervendors were considered when selecting their NPMD solution, AppNeta end users cited Riverbed andSolarWinds.This product is well-suited for highly distributed enterprises, or those organizations with a significant number ofapplications deployed in cloud or hybrid environments. Based on Gartner's analysis, the product is best alignedto the line-of-business user role.CA Technologies Network Operations and AnalyticsFounded in 1976, CA Technologies is a public company headquartered in New York, New York. The 8.htm[14/03/2018 10:02:57]