Network pros decide application performance matters

Industry analysis by Beth Schultz, plus the latest news headlines.

The days of finger pointing between network teams and application groups might be on the way to extinction, according to survey data recently released by BT.

During January 2009, BT in North America conducted a Web-based survey on networked application performance, which was completed by 140 IT professionals worldwide. And the results show that now more of those surveyed are equally concerned about network and application performance. In fact 42% surveyed this year said they are taking a more balanced perspective on the performance of their networks and enterprise applications, while just 28% indicated the same in 2002.

"After years of not talking to one another, application development and networking professionals finally seem to understand that the performance of networked applications depend on a cooperative approach," reads the report authored by Rick Blum, director of strategic marketing at BT. "But that hasn't yet translated into improved performance, either when the application is first deployed, or during its production lifecycle."

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The days of finger pointing between network teams and application groups might be on the way to extinction, according to survey data recently released by BT.

During January 2009, BT in North America conducted a Web-based survey on networked application performance, which was completed by 140 IT professionals worldwide. And the results show that now more of those surveyed are equally concerned about network and application performance. In fact 42% surveyed this year said they are taking a more balanced perspective on the performance of their networks and enterprise applications, while just 28% indicated the same in 2002.

"After years of not talking to one another, application development and networking professionals finally seem to understand that the performance of networked applications depend on a cooperative approach," reads the report authored by Rick Blum, director of strategic marketing at BT. "But that hasn't yet translated into improved performance, either when the application is first deployed, or during its production lifecycle."

Still, respondents said 40% of networked applications fail to meet expectations when initially deployed. According to BT, the initial and final performance of networked applications had not improved over the last five years. In 2004, 78% of respondents said the final performance of their networked applications met or exceeded expectations, and that number jumped to 83% in 2007 but dipped back down to 71% this year.

While respondents say there are several barriers to superior application performance, cost ranked the highest among those mentioned. More than half (54%) reported that the cost of tools prevented them from achieving optimal application performance. Fifty percent said justifying the costs and benefits of appropriate application performance management tools to upper managed continued to be a hurdle. Nearly half (47%) indicated they had a difficult time obtaining cooperation from application development teams. And 42% said that accurately estimating the time, effort, cost and scope required to achieve optimized application performance challenged them.

Other issues included inadequate manpower and staff turnover for 39%, lack of tools for another 39% and lack of expertise for 32%. Thirty-eight percent said determining application and network compatibility remained a barrier.

"IT organizations need to understand that when application performance fails to meet expectations, the result can be costly, both in monetary terms and loss of reputation in the marketplace," the report reads.

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Schultz is a longtime IT journalist. You can email her or find her here.