Management a Good Port in the Storm

The hits just keep on rolling. I posted a while back that I was seeing silver linings in the current economy for management tools vendors, and I keep seeing more reinforcements. Within the past two weeks, we’ve seen bullish results from NetQoS , Keynote, Network Instruments, and Zenoss. There are others that don’t make public announcements, but are smiling all the same. First I thought it was just hopeless optimism, but no more. This is a legitimate trend. Why would this be happening? Many of the hardware vendors are adjusting their expectations downward, although there are exceptions such as Riverbed. In general, IT spending is not in the same downward spiral as other sectors, but a lot of big players are tempering expectations just the same. So why would management tools be having such great success? In my view, we are witnessing evidence of what many of us in the management tools sector have long known – that these technologies can provide significant payback in reduced operations costs and improved operational efficiencies, better asset management, and better returns on infrastructure investments. Plus, these returns often come at a fraction of the up-front cost of new infrastructure hardware. So – when everyone is carefully watching the total IT expense number, and bigger capital projects are being delayed, new attention turns to efficiency projects like deploying management tools and improving management processes. So – does this apply to all management disciplines in the same way that network management seems to be enjoying? It’s a little to early to tell that, but my colleagues and I at EMA will keep watching the situation and will keep you posted on what we’re seeing and hearing….