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Q&A Part Two: Ovum Talks About APM

Pete Goldin
Editor and Publisher
APMdigest

In Part Two of APMdigest's exclusive interview, Michael Azoff, Principal Analyst at Ovum, talks about APM hot topics including Big Data, Cloud, SaaS, Mobile and DevOps.

Click here to start with Q&A Part One: Ovum Talks About APM

APM: Your APM Solution Guide promotes a “unified view” and states that “a comprehensive APM solution is essential.” Does this require one large solution that covers all APM capabilities?

MA: It is possible to get a unified view by choosing point solutions that together provide that unified view and some of those decisions may be driven by the different communities that are buying these solutions. Operations people are not really interested in source code level detail but developers obviously are. You are going to have these different solutions that are targeted at these different communities within the IT department. It is possible to have a set of point solutions that together cover the whole spectrum of performance issues.

APM: One point I see in your research, that we both agree on, is that Big Data is going to change APM. How do you see APM vendors addressing that challenge?

MA: Big Data was quite an eye-opener. You've got vendors like Netuitive and NEC that provide solutions that complement the traditional APM tools that do not provide the Big Data analytics. So you can buy an add-on tool. The big vendors are building their own solutions. And then you've got another bunch of vendors who are taking the complex event processing approach. So you have different ways of dealing with Big Data, but the vendors are addressing it. They are recognizing that there is a need for that.

APM: In terms of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), your report states that some vendors are waiting to see how the market goes. What progress do you see?

MA: Some have SaaS APM products, some are building them, some products are half completed. I think in 2013 and 2014 you will see a lot more activity in this area. This is all being lead by the customers. It is reflecting enterprise moves to the cloud. We are seeing a greater shift towards use of Cloud services, greater confidence now, and the APM vendors have to cater to that need.

APM: I noticed in the Solution Guide you did not include the lack of SaaS as a weakness for any of the vendors. Does that mean you do not consider SaaS a market requirement today?

MA: We are at a turning point. If I was going to do this Solution Guide next year I probably would put SaaS down as essential.

APM: What is the level of maturity you are seeing in terms of monitoring applications across mobile devices?

MA: Mobile is an area that has become quite prominent very recently. We are seeing a shift towards the enterprise use of mobile devices, and with that the means to monitor the performance. I think the vendors are on top of that in providing capability for managing mobile apps. There are only two vendors in my Solution Guide that have absolutely nothing to offer – so that is a high proportion of vendors that provide this capability.

APM: How do you see DevOps impacting APM over the next year?

MA: DevOps is all about these two communities – developers and operations – collaborating, but they still have their individual needs which are quite separate. So from an APM perspective, vendors are clearly targeting their solutions at one community or another, or both in an integrated approach, but they are providing different information for these different communities. I think DevOps is a very forward thinking and necessary way of bringing down the silo walls.

APM: Do you have any predictions on how the APM market will change over the next year or so?

MA: I think the major waves – cloud, mobile, agile – have been initiated. I don't think we will see anything of the same magnitude in the next few years at least. I am not expecting something completely new, but I am expecting to see maturity in cloud and mobile, and consolidation of APM features.

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

ABOUT Michael Azoff

Michael Azoff (PhD, MIEEE) has been working as an IT industry analyst since 2003, bringing over 20 years of experience in pure and applied research and consulting in the IT industry. At Ovum he leads the software development and lifecycle management (SDLM) research and his current focus is on Agile practices in software development, including Application Performance Management, enterprise Agile transformation initiatives, DevOps, cloud related SDLM, rich Internet applications, and enterprise IT mobile development.

Related Links:

www.ovum.com

Ovum Solution Guide: Application Performance Management

Ovum Application Performance Management Market Overview

The Business Benefits of a Lifecycle Approach to Software Development

Michael Azoff's blog: Defining Modern Application Performance Management

Michael Azoff's blog: Application Performance Management and Data Overload

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Q&A Part Two: Ovum Talks About APM

Pete Goldin
Editor and Publisher
APMdigest

In Part Two of APMdigest's exclusive interview, Michael Azoff, Principal Analyst at Ovum, talks about APM hot topics including Big Data, Cloud, SaaS, Mobile and DevOps.

Click here to start with Q&A Part One: Ovum Talks About APM

APM: Your APM Solution Guide promotes a “unified view” and states that “a comprehensive APM solution is essential.” Does this require one large solution that covers all APM capabilities?

MA: It is possible to get a unified view by choosing point solutions that together provide that unified view and some of those decisions may be driven by the different communities that are buying these solutions. Operations people are not really interested in source code level detail but developers obviously are. You are going to have these different solutions that are targeted at these different communities within the IT department. It is possible to have a set of point solutions that together cover the whole spectrum of performance issues.

APM: One point I see in your research, that we both agree on, is that Big Data is going to change APM. How do you see APM vendors addressing that challenge?

MA: Big Data was quite an eye-opener. You've got vendors like Netuitive and NEC that provide solutions that complement the traditional APM tools that do not provide the Big Data analytics. So you can buy an add-on tool. The big vendors are building their own solutions. And then you've got another bunch of vendors who are taking the complex event processing approach. So you have different ways of dealing with Big Data, but the vendors are addressing it. They are recognizing that there is a need for that.

APM: In terms of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), your report states that some vendors are waiting to see how the market goes. What progress do you see?

MA: Some have SaaS APM products, some are building them, some products are half completed. I think in 2013 and 2014 you will see a lot more activity in this area. This is all being lead by the customers. It is reflecting enterprise moves to the cloud. We are seeing a greater shift towards use of Cloud services, greater confidence now, and the APM vendors have to cater to that need.

APM: I noticed in the Solution Guide you did not include the lack of SaaS as a weakness for any of the vendors. Does that mean you do not consider SaaS a market requirement today?

MA: We are at a turning point. If I was going to do this Solution Guide next year I probably would put SaaS down as essential.

APM: What is the level of maturity you are seeing in terms of monitoring applications across mobile devices?

MA: Mobile is an area that has become quite prominent very recently. We are seeing a shift towards the enterprise use of mobile devices, and with that the means to monitor the performance. I think the vendors are on top of that in providing capability for managing mobile apps. There are only two vendors in my Solution Guide that have absolutely nothing to offer – so that is a high proportion of vendors that provide this capability.

APM: How do you see DevOps impacting APM over the next year?

MA: DevOps is all about these two communities – developers and operations – collaborating, but they still have their individual needs which are quite separate. So from an APM perspective, vendors are clearly targeting their solutions at one community or another, or both in an integrated approach, but they are providing different information for these different communities. I think DevOps is a very forward thinking and necessary way of bringing down the silo walls.

APM: Do you have any predictions on how the APM market will change over the next year or so?

MA: I think the major waves – cloud, mobile, agile – have been initiated. I don't think we will see anything of the same magnitude in the next few years at least. I am not expecting something completely new, but I am expecting to see maturity in cloud and mobile, and consolidation of APM features.

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

ABOUT Michael Azoff

Michael Azoff (PhD, MIEEE) has been working as an IT industry analyst since 2003, bringing over 20 years of experience in pure and applied research and consulting in the IT industry. At Ovum he leads the software development and lifecycle management (SDLM) research and his current focus is on Agile practices in software development, including Application Performance Management, enterprise Agile transformation initiatives, DevOps, cloud related SDLM, rich Internet applications, and enterprise IT mobile development.

Related Links:

www.ovum.com

Ovum Solution Guide: Application Performance Management

Ovum Application Performance Management Market Overview

The Business Benefits of a Lifecycle Approach to Software Development

Michael Azoff's blog: Defining Modern Application Performance Management

Michael Azoff's blog: Application Performance Management and Data Overload

The Latest
The Latest 10

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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) ...

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