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20 Technologies to Support APM - Part 2

APMdigest continues the list, cataloging the many valuable tools available – beyond what is technically categorized as Application Performance Management (APM) – to support the goals of improving application performance and business service.

Start with Part 1

6. Synthetic Monitoring

Understanding Web and mobile app performance starts with the end-user experience, no matter how and when a customer accesses the application. And while today's IT departments are facing enormous pressure to deliver a flawless end-user experience, they must also drive down costs. These competing forces create a compelling case for adding a synthetic-transaction SaaS solution to the APM mix. IT pros responsible for application performance can understand the health and availability of key applications, and track global and local end-user experience, with a cost-effective, easy-to-use and fast-to-implement solution.
Aruna Ravichandran
VP Product and Solution Marketing, APM and DevOps, CA Technologies

Active, or synthetic, monitoring of applications, services, and websites 24/7 is an essential component of an enterprise-wide APM strategy. It ensures that online properties are fast and reliable for end users, helping to protect brand image and drive revenue. While passive monitoring provides a view into end user experience, it cannot detect downtime or get a full picture of what end users see outside of your datacenter(s) or cloud.
Mehdi Daoudi
CEO and Founder, Catchpoint

7. Infrastructure Monitoring

While APM solutions and corresponding strategy is critical for modern enterprises it's essential to also adopt an appropriate infrastructure monitoring solution. Applications sit on top of increasingly complex infrastructure workloads (server, network, storage) brought about by innovations in areas cloud architecture, mobile and non-relational data stores. This means that a unified infrastructure monitoring solution that is able to cover these areas is an essential component of a strategic monitoring strategy.
John Rakowski
Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations, Forrester Research

While APM provides great insight into service delivery from a user perspective, it alone isn't sufficient to properly identify and resolve performance or availability issues pertaining to the back-end infrastructure. Service-centric unified monitoring tools are the key to ensuring the health of applications and all the infrastructure components needed for consistent and reliable delivery of the service.
Deepak Kanwar
Senior Manager, Zenoss

8. Load Testing

APM is a cornerstone of delivering a quality user experience. To supplement the 360 degree view of your APM solution it is important to also implement and obtain correlation between your APM and Load Testing solutions. This combination provides a clear perspective of your application and your application environment, allowing you to use load to help predict application performance prior to seeing real life behavior through your APM solution.
Denis Goodwin
Director of Product Management, AlertSite by SmartBear

Among the thousands of product reviews by real users on IT Central Station – aka the "Yelp for IT" – we find numerous cross-references between APM and testing tools. Our community of IT professionals evidently find that investment in testing tools is complimentary to APM.
Russell Rothstein
Founder and CEO, IT Central Station

9. Log Management

While APM tools are definitely widely used for a view into how your own application code is performing, in many cases APM alone is not enough to give an end-to-end perspective of your system - especially in cloud environments where you no longer have the same level of access and it can be more difficult to apply instrumentation. We are seeing a huge increase in users sending more and more performance metrics into their log data – giving them the ability to use "logs as data" along side their APM tools, and providing deeper log-level insights into key business metrics.
Trevor Parsons, Phd
Co-founder & Chief Scientist, Logentries

Combining unified monitoring with log analysis provides faster trouble-shooting, improved root cause analysis, and more effective IT event correlation and forensic analysis.
David Dennis
VP of Marketing & Business Development, GroundWork

10. Middleware Management

Middleware Infrastructure Visibility is a necessity for application and business service performance. Enterprise applications are inherently complex and built on a combination of technologies including middleware systems (e.g., WebSphere MQ, IBM Data Power, TIBCO, and Oracle BPEL), packaged applications, and other legacy technologies. Middleware, in particular, serves as the plumbing connecting a multitude of heterogeneous systems. In this way, middleware management complements traditional APM offerings because it provides deep visibility into the infrastructure these applications depend on to deliver data and business services.
April Hickel
Product Manager, APM, BMC Software

20 Technologies to Support APM - Part 3

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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) ...

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 ...

Image
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 ...

20 Technologies to Support APM - Part 2

APMdigest continues the list, cataloging the many valuable tools available – beyond what is technically categorized as Application Performance Management (APM) – to support the goals of improving application performance and business service.

Start with Part 1

6. Synthetic Monitoring

Understanding Web and mobile app performance starts with the end-user experience, no matter how and when a customer accesses the application. And while today's IT departments are facing enormous pressure to deliver a flawless end-user experience, they must also drive down costs. These competing forces create a compelling case for adding a synthetic-transaction SaaS solution to the APM mix. IT pros responsible for application performance can understand the health and availability of key applications, and track global and local end-user experience, with a cost-effective, easy-to-use and fast-to-implement solution.
Aruna Ravichandran
VP Product and Solution Marketing, APM and DevOps, CA Technologies

Active, or synthetic, monitoring of applications, services, and websites 24/7 is an essential component of an enterprise-wide APM strategy. It ensures that online properties are fast and reliable for end users, helping to protect brand image and drive revenue. While passive monitoring provides a view into end user experience, it cannot detect downtime or get a full picture of what end users see outside of your datacenter(s) or cloud.
Mehdi Daoudi
CEO and Founder, Catchpoint

7. Infrastructure Monitoring

While APM solutions and corresponding strategy is critical for modern enterprises it's essential to also adopt an appropriate infrastructure monitoring solution. Applications sit on top of increasingly complex infrastructure workloads (server, network, storage) brought about by innovations in areas cloud architecture, mobile and non-relational data stores. This means that a unified infrastructure monitoring solution that is able to cover these areas is an essential component of a strategic monitoring strategy.
John Rakowski
Analyst, Infrastructure and Operations, Forrester Research

While APM provides great insight into service delivery from a user perspective, it alone isn't sufficient to properly identify and resolve performance or availability issues pertaining to the back-end infrastructure. Service-centric unified monitoring tools are the key to ensuring the health of applications and all the infrastructure components needed for consistent and reliable delivery of the service.
Deepak Kanwar
Senior Manager, Zenoss

8. Load Testing

APM is a cornerstone of delivering a quality user experience. To supplement the 360 degree view of your APM solution it is important to also implement and obtain correlation between your APM and Load Testing solutions. This combination provides a clear perspective of your application and your application environment, allowing you to use load to help predict application performance prior to seeing real life behavior through your APM solution.
Denis Goodwin
Director of Product Management, AlertSite by SmartBear

Among the thousands of product reviews by real users on IT Central Station – aka the "Yelp for IT" – we find numerous cross-references between APM and testing tools. Our community of IT professionals evidently find that investment in testing tools is complimentary to APM.
Russell Rothstein
Founder and CEO, IT Central Station

9. Log Management

While APM tools are definitely widely used for a view into how your own application code is performing, in many cases APM alone is not enough to give an end-to-end perspective of your system - especially in cloud environments where you no longer have the same level of access and it can be more difficult to apply instrumentation. We are seeing a huge increase in users sending more and more performance metrics into their log data – giving them the ability to use "logs as data" along side their APM tools, and providing deeper log-level insights into key business metrics.
Trevor Parsons, Phd
Co-founder & Chief Scientist, Logentries

Combining unified monitoring with log analysis provides faster trouble-shooting, improved root cause analysis, and more effective IT event correlation and forensic analysis.
David Dennis
VP of Marketing & Business Development, GroundWork

10. Middleware Management

Middleware Infrastructure Visibility is a necessity for application and business service performance. Enterprise applications are inherently complex and built on a combination of technologies including middleware systems (e.g., WebSphere MQ, IBM Data Power, TIBCO, and Oracle BPEL), packaged applications, and other legacy technologies. Middleware, in particular, serves as the plumbing connecting a multitude of heterogeneous systems. In this way, middleware management complements traditional APM offerings because it provides deep visibility into the infrastructure these applications depend on to deliver data and business services.
April Hickel
Product Manager, APM, BMC Software

20 Technologies to Support APM - Part 3

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 ...

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 ...

Image
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 ...