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Q&A Part One: Ovum Talks About APM

Pete Goldin
Editor and Publisher
APMdigest

In APMdigest's exclusive interview, Michael Azoff, Principal Analyst at Ovum, talks about his APM Solution Guide 2012, the APM market, and the definition of APM.

APM: How did Ovum's APM Solution Guide come about?

MA: The first time that I wrote about Application Performance Management (APM) was in 2004. The next time I looked at the space was 2008. Now this report is in 2012. So it looks like I'm writing these every four years.

For this report, I was being approached by various vendors, some of them new to the market, and I was very intrigued because they were telling me they were doing all these new things.

At the same time felt that the term APM was very broadly used. There were all these different vendors, they all have different histories, they all have a different take on what APM means and what they offer. So I thought that we really need to get clarification. That was the spark for the report.

Although the Solution Guide does not tend to be exhaustive, I think it is very representative of the leading players in the market. It provides a short analysis of the vendors, and the Ovum APM Rainbow Map which is chart where you can see the features at a glance. It is an opportunity to see what is really happening in APM.

APM: How did you conduct the research?

MA: Mostly talking to the vendors. I had a briefing with each vendor, and I also created a features matrix. The features matrix is a spreadsheet with about 200 rows that we ask vendors to complete. That information is what underlies the Ovum APM Rainbow Map.

APM: What are the most interesting changes you have seen in the current APM market?

MA: I think what we are seeing is that the new infrastructure that is coming out – the Cloud, virtualization – is pushing the envelope for what APM needs to offer. You've also got innovators providing business transaction management, for example. You've got innovation in end-to-end monitoring across a whole range of different edge devices. So I think the industry is very healthy in terms of the innovation that is coming out of it. Some vendors are obviously ahead of others, and I think that is brought out in the report.

APM: Did your research help you come to terms with the definition of APM?

MA: I think APM is still confusing, as a term, because it covers so much. I think end users really need to understand exactly how each vendor is actually using that term, in what it is covering. I think the Solution Guide helps in that respect.

APM: It is interesting that you mention how broad the term APM is, because I see that you include cyber security as an APM capability, and normally I view that as separate from APM. How do you see that fitting in?

MA: Yes, I got a comment from a Gartner analyst querying that. That is an example of where I, as an analyst, am sticking my neck out and saying what the market should be. And the market carries on blithely regardless of my view.

The fact of the matter is that if you look at application development logically, security should be something that developers think about right from the start. I think this is more important today because we are having more applications running outside the firewall. So there is a real need to address these issues.

I don't see a logical separation between security and the rest of application development. I think that application developers should be trained to be aware of security issues, and I think that would make it safer for the end-users. We have profiled this approach in a number of reports in our research. My bringing security into the broader definition of APM is part of that approach, creating awareness. Whether the market embraces that or not is another matter.

APM: Another capability that you included in APM, which I agree with, is network performance management. Explain how you see NPM in relation to APM.

MA: Yes, absolutely. Historically, going back to 2004 and 2008 when I was reviewing the market, the vendors were coming from different traditions, and they were quite separate products. From an end-user point of view, these types of historical divisions don't make any logical sense. They want an application to work, and if there are issues affecting the performance deriving from infrastructure, the information needs to be brought out. So I argued for integrating applications and network right from the early days.

What I think is interesting to see today, is that we are getting nearer to that point. There is greater recognition of the need to have that type of approach. We are seeing vendors embrace that. We are getting nearer to that optimal point where these kinds of historical divisions are not going to affect what kind of product is offered.

We are seeing this crossover between traditional network performance tools that are actually providing a lot of information about applications. So I think we are getting to some interesting crossroads. I take a very broad approach and I think we are seeing that trend in the market.

Click here to read Q&A Part Two: Ovum Talks About APM

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Q&A Part One: Ovum Talks About APM

Pete Goldin
Editor and Publisher
APMdigest

In APMdigest's exclusive interview, Michael Azoff, Principal Analyst at Ovum, talks about his APM Solution Guide 2012, the APM market, and the definition of APM.

APM: How did Ovum's APM Solution Guide come about?

MA: The first time that I wrote about Application Performance Management (APM) was in 2004. The next time I looked at the space was 2008. Now this report is in 2012. So it looks like I'm writing these every four years.

For this report, I was being approached by various vendors, some of them new to the market, and I was very intrigued because they were telling me they were doing all these new things.

At the same time felt that the term APM was very broadly used. There were all these different vendors, they all have different histories, they all have a different take on what APM means and what they offer. So I thought that we really need to get clarification. That was the spark for the report.

Although the Solution Guide does not tend to be exhaustive, I think it is very representative of the leading players in the market. It provides a short analysis of the vendors, and the Ovum APM Rainbow Map which is chart where you can see the features at a glance. It is an opportunity to see what is really happening in APM.

APM: How did you conduct the research?

MA: Mostly talking to the vendors. I had a briefing with each vendor, and I also created a features matrix. The features matrix is a spreadsheet with about 200 rows that we ask vendors to complete. That information is what underlies the Ovum APM Rainbow Map.

APM: What are the most interesting changes you have seen in the current APM market?

MA: I think what we are seeing is that the new infrastructure that is coming out – the Cloud, virtualization – is pushing the envelope for what APM needs to offer. You've also got innovators providing business transaction management, for example. You've got innovation in end-to-end monitoring across a whole range of different edge devices. So I think the industry is very healthy in terms of the innovation that is coming out of it. Some vendors are obviously ahead of others, and I think that is brought out in the report.

APM: Did your research help you come to terms with the definition of APM?

MA: I think APM is still confusing, as a term, because it covers so much. I think end users really need to understand exactly how each vendor is actually using that term, in what it is covering. I think the Solution Guide helps in that respect.

APM: It is interesting that you mention how broad the term APM is, because I see that you include cyber security as an APM capability, and normally I view that as separate from APM. How do you see that fitting in?

MA: Yes, I got a comment from a Gartner analyst querying that. That is an example of where I, as an analyst, am sticking my neck out and saying what the market should be. And the market carries on blithely regardless of my view.

The fact of the matter is that if you look at application development logically, security should be something that developers think about right from the start. I think this is more important today because we are having more applications running outside the firewall. So there is a real need to address these issues.

I don't see a logical separation between security and the rest of application development. I think that application developers should be trained to be aware of security issues, and I think that would make it safer for the end-users. We have profiled this approach in a number of reports in our research. My bringing security into the broader definition of APM is part of that approach, creating awareness. Whether the market embraces that or not is another matter.

APM: Another capability that you included in APM, which I agree with, is network performance management. Explain how you see NPM in relation to APM.

MA: Yes, absolutely. Historically, going back to 2004 and 2008 when I was reviewing the market, the vendors were coming from different traditions, and they were quite separate products. From an end-user point of view, these types of historical divisions don't make any logical sense. They want an application to work, and if there are issues affecting the performance deriving from infrastructure, the information needs to be brought out. So I argued for integrating applications and network right from the early days.

What I think is interesting to see today, is that we are getting nearer to that point. There is greater recognition of the need to have that type of approach. We are seeing vendors embrace that. We are getting nearer to that optimal point where these kinds of historical divisions are not going to affect what kind of product is offered.

We are seeing this crossover between traditional network performance tools that are actually providing a lot of information about applications. So I think we are getting to some interesting crossroads. I take a very broad approach and I think we are seeing that trend in the market.

Click here to read Q&A Part Two: Ovum Talks About APM

Hot Topic
The Latest
The Latest 10

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 ...

Image
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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Broadcom

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 ...