YAO (Yet Another Optimization)

Sure – you’ve heard of WAN optimization, server optimization, and even storage optimization, but the need for optimization also applies to your management technology -- especially packet-based network, application, and security monitoring and analysis tools.  Tools operating on a packet basis are typically high-powered, often appliance-based, and usually more expensive than alternatives which operate data from agents, and they can and should

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Riverbed Meanders Into User Experience Monitoring

This week Riverbed announced the latest release of their Cascade performance management solution. Version 8.4 marks one of the most significant expansions in functionality since Riverbed acquired Mazu Networks and launched the Cascade brand. The release adds two major feature sets -- integrated user experience monitoring and virtualization packaging for Cascade Sensor technology.

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Silver Linings to HP/Microsoft Cloud?

HP and Microsoft made an announcement last week about their intention to work closely together to advance technological integrations between them, addressing the needs of the industry for mature Cloud solutions.

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Seven Resolutions for Network Management in 2010

The last few weeks have seen many “top ten lists” for the past year and decade as well as predictions for the coming year. After reading my forty-seventh such list, I’m left feeling a little unfulfilled. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, and predictions invariably come with so many disclaimers that you’re left wondering what you can do with them in the first place. So how can you really make a difference? What is really actionable about all those lists and predictions?

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Net Management and the Cloud

EMA has just recently completed the data gathering phase of our Responsible Cloud research initiative, and there are some interesting results around the roles being played by network management and networking teams in terms of cloud management and operations.

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Internet = InterNOT @ Interop

I was in New York last Wednesday, 11/18 for a one-day whirlwind tour of the Interop show floor. Sorry to say I did not have time to attend the keynote presentations, but my schedule only afforded enough time to catch up with the twenty or so management vendors who were exhibiting. Little did I know that I would be forced to live the day as one of the unfortunate - the "have-nots" - the "Internet unconnecteds"...

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Proactive Strategies for Pandemia

It seems my last post was timely regarding network access during and through a pandemic. Gartner Group came out the next day with their list of concerns, which were quite similar to mine. They also mentioned a strategy which I had talked about with my colleague but forgot to include in my post -- the use of WAN optimization technologies as a hedge against Internet congestion. My thought there was “well, that sounds great, but how much would that cost??”

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Networks and the Pandemic

I was talking yesterday to a colleague about the potential impact of H1N1 and business continuity planning, and in particular the impact on network operations. And today I saw an article on the topic, in which the US Federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) has made pronouncements about how the Internet might be affected. At first you might wonder what a health care issue would have to do with IT?

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Another Light to Shine on Virtual Performance

Earlier this month, NetScout Systems announced their nGenius Virtual Agent to add visibility for performance troubleshooting and monitoring into the virtual network elements that exist within the realm of virtual servers. This new offering marks another example of mainstream network management technologies being adapted to help IT operations teams to deal with the onslaught and sprawl of virtual computing systems.

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Naturally Blogging

Techie diversion today on something that I've been thinking about doing for a while. I'm writing this blog entry as my first experience with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, from Nuance Software. I have had a couple of colleagues sing its praises, and I've always been curious, so I finally ponied up the $99 at Staples and bought a copy of the Standard Edition.

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IP SLA - Hidden gem for proactive management?

At EMA, we spend a lot of time talking about how to shift gears into a more proactive, preventative approach to manage the IT infrastructure. Whether you are looking at the lower layers of the stack and device health or up the stack at how well applications and services are being delivered, a common challenge is making the most out of what sources of management data are available. And while harvesting of device performance metrics and collection of NetFlow (or equivalents) are becoming commonplace, the use of IPSLA as a supporting set of measurements is not nearly as prevalent.

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Net Management Shake-up: CA Acquires NetQoS

Just when it was looking things had quieted down on the network management acquisition/consolidation front, CA dropped a bombshell today by announcing their intent to acquire NetQoS in an all-cash $200 million deal. This year has seen plenty of small deals, mostly driven by gap filling and bargain shopping among smaller players feeling the stress of a down economy, but this acquisition is anything but small-time.

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A Better Idea for WOC PoCs?

When having conversations with IT and network practitioners who are considering WAN Optimization Controller (WOC) solutions, the number one question inevitably comes down to “which one should I use?” Each vendor/product has its advantages. Of course the answer, as with so many multi-variable situations, is “it depends”. The answer depends on what your network architecture looks like. It depends on what types of connectivity you are dealing with. It depends on what mix of applications and services traffic you have running over the wide area.

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State of VoIP/Video Management - Part I

EMA recently conducted a survey of IT practitioners, looking to understand current practices for managing real-time IP communications like VoIP and IP Video Conferencing technologies such as telepresence. Remember why these are so interesting – they require protected/prioritized bandwidth and are latency-intolerant, and thus often drive changes in your network architecture plus your planning and management regimes. While the full research report will be published shortly, I’d like to share a few interesting highlights that have emerged.

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Network Management in the World of Virtualization

Previously, I posted on some of the reasons why network managers should care about the rapid adoption of virtual systems (see http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/40013). The concepts I covered there still apply, and the concerns are growing as the number of VMs grows.

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End=Lean IT; Means=Service Assurance

Yesterday, I wrapped up a nine-city national series of seminars sponsored by Network World on “Lean IT.” Throughout, my role has been to advocate a couple of key positions that EMA (Enterprise Management Associates) believes are essential and to give some practical advice on how to make progress on the road towards the strategic high ground – proactive, service-oriented management process and practices that align with business/organizational priorities – while also accomplishing the seemingly opposite goal of controlling IT costs.

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Your Voice on managing Voice (and Video)

Enterprise Management Associates is mid-way through collecting input for a research project to study how IT teams are deploying and managing latency/loss-intolerant IP communications, including VoIP and Video technologies such as telepresence and desktop video conferencing.

Video keeps getting attention as the killer app of the future. Cisco's recent pronouncements project a 10-fold growth in video communications traffic between 2008 and 2013 - the fastest growing all internet traffic categories.

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Service Assurance on Parade

For the past two weeks, and for the next two to come, I’ve had the opportunity to tour the country, on behalf of Network World and CA, talking to IT professionals about strategies, practices, and technologies for making the move to Service Assurance.

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IP Video Conferencing: No guts, no glory

A couple of months back, I blogged on the interesting challenges that deploying IP video conferencing technologies poses to service quality and service assurance – especially when it comes to network capacity and performance. Since then, the picture is starting to clear regarding how these technologies work, and some of the cost savings they can deliver.

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Service Assurance – A Term Whose Time Has Come?

Integrated service management, or ITSM, is the holy grail of IT management. Those of us who have been watching this industry for many years have long understood this potential, and have watched patiently as the technology and practices have slowly evolved. And it’s been like watching the pot to see when it will boil - seems to be taking forever.

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