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APM in the New Hybrid World

APM for Any Infrastructure, Any Application, Any Personae
Ulrica de Fort-Menares

True Application Performance Monitoring (APM) cross-cuts many IT tiers: network infrastructure, physical and virtual infrastructure, databases, mobile devices, etc. An ideal Application Performance Monitoring solution provides visibility over any infrastructure, for any app and any audience.

1. Any Infrastructure – We live in a hybrid world

Enterprises are transitioning to cloud, hybrid WAN and BYOD. We call this the three dimensions of the new hybrid world.


Traditional Enterprise Architecture is in the bottom left front quadrant. Managed applications are typically hosted in the Private Cloud. Many enterprises have managed networks and managed devices such as laptops, desktop, IP phones, etc.

Cloud computing, mobility and BYOD trends are rapidly changing the landscape, driving Enterprise Architecture to the top right quadrant. Enterprises are now consuming SaaS applications that are not managed by traditional IT. The Internet has become a much more stable platform; businesses are migrating their traditional network to the Internet. Users are accessing Enterprise content from anywhere across the unmanaged Internet. Enterprises are also dealing with an influx of unmanaged BYOD devices.

Implications: In this new hybrid world, you will likely have limited visibility of devices, applications and/or networks. Multiple administrative domains will become the new norm. Enterprises need new capabilities to perform fault isolation that span different organizations, groups and service providers. This means a lot of room for finger pointing. We believe modern APM solutions need to address this added complexity with the ability to provide visibility across any public/private network, any public/private cloud for any device.

2. Any Apps – Voice and video have more stringent performance requirements, but yet they are not the main focus of APM solutions today

There is much focus on web performance management in regards to APM solutions today. Voice and video are more challenging data types when it comes to performance and quality of experience. Yet, we do not see as much emphasis from the APM solutions today. Voice and video remain as their own silos from a performance management perspective. Perhaps when WebRTC becomes mainstream, we would see voice and video become a focus of APM solutions.

3. Any Personae – Tools should be capable of collaborative troubleshooting and leveraged by sysadmin, DevOps, network engineers, app developers, etc.

According to a study conducted by EMA, 81% of respondents indicated that cross-domain triage teams were being invoked to tackle application performance issues. The teams combine network, application, database, server, endpoints, etc. Even more interestingly, 66% of respondents indicated that network operators were taking the lead most or all of the time. This can only be interpreted as a need to arm network operators with the tool to succeed in their lead roles. The network is the resource that binds the user and the application together. It seems natural that network operators take the lead role in these challenging cross-domain initiatives.

Despite the pressing need, enterprises are still challenged by the lack of tools that can present a unified picture to meet the needs of these different audiences. There are no shortages of silo tools, but they lack abilities to correlate different data sources to present the unified view.

Key Takeaways

Despite the diversity of APM tools, there is still opportunity for a tool that can be leveraged by different cross-domain teams, different application types and across the hybrid cloud/network world.

Ulrica de Fort-Menares is VP Product Strategy at LiveAction.

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APM in the New Hybrid World

APM for Any Infrastructure, Any Application, Any Personae
Ulrica de Fort-Menares

True Application Performance Monitoring (APM) cross-cuts many IT tiers: network infrastructure, physical and virtual infrastructure, databases, mobile devices, etc. An ideal Application Performance Monitoring solution provides visibility over any infrastructure, for any app and any audience.

1. Any Infrastructure – We live in a hybrid world

Enterprises are transitioning to cloud, hybrid WAN and BYOD. We call this the three dimensions of the new hybrid world.


Traditional Enterprise Architecture is in the bottom left front quadrant. Managed applications are typically hosted in the Private Cloud. Many enterprises have managed networks and managed devices such as laptops, desktop, IP phones, etc.

Cloud computing, mobility and BYOD trends are rapidly changing the landscape, driving Enterprise Architecture to the top right quadrant. Enterprises are now consuming SaaS applications that are not managed by traditional IT. The Internet has become a much more stable platform; businesses are migrating their traditional network to the Internet. Users are accessing Enterprise content from anywhere across the unmanaged Internet. Enterprises are also dealing with an influx of unmanaged BYOD devices.

Implications: In this new hybrid world, you will likely have limited visibility of devices, applications and/or networks. Multiple administrative domains will become the new norm. Enterprises need new capabilities to perform fault isolation that span different organizations, groups and service providers. This means a lot of room for finger pointing. We believe modern APM solutions need to address this added complexity with the ability to provide visibility across any public/private network, any public/private cloud for any device.

2. Any Apps – Voice and video have more stringent performance requirements, but yet they are not the main focus of APM solutions today

There is much focus on web performance management in regards to APM solutions today. Voice and video are more challenging data types when it comes to performance and quality of experience. Yet, we do not see as much emphasis from the APM solutions today. Voice and video remain as their own silos from a performance management perspective. Perhaps when WebRTC becomes mainstream, we would see voice and video become a focus of APM solutions.

3. Any Personae – Tools should be capable of collaborative troubleshooting and leveraged by sysadmin, DevOps, network engineers, app developers, etc.

According to a study conducted by EMA, 81% of respondents indicated that cross-domain triage teams were being invoked to tackle application performance issues. The teams combine network, application, database, server, endpoints, etc. Even more interestingly, 66% of respondents indicated that network operators were taking the lead most or all of the time. This can only be interpreted as a need to arm network operators with the tool to succeed in their lead roles. The network is the resource that binds the user and the application together. It seems natural that network operators take the lead role in these challenging cross-domain initiatives.

Despite the pressing need, enterprises are still challenged by the lack of tools that can present a unified picture to meet the needs of these different audiences. There are no shortages of silo tools, but they lack abilities to correlate different data sources to present the unified view.

Key Takeaways

Despite the diversity of APM tools, there is still opportunity for a tool that can be leveraged by different cross-domain teams, different application types and across the hybrid cloud/network world.

Ulrica de Fort-Menares is VP Product Strategy at LiveAction.

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...