Competitive Analysis Application Performance Management and Business

September 9, 2010 | Updated: September 22, 2010

Competitive Analysis: Application Performance Management And Business Transaction Monitoring
by Jean-Pierre Garbani for Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Making Leaders Successful Every Day

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

September 9, 2010 | Updated: September 22, 2010

A SWOT Analysis Of APM And BTM Software vendors
by Jean-Pierre Garbani with Eveline Oehrlich and lauren E. nelson

Competitive Analysis: Application Performance Management And Business Transaction Monitoring

ExECUT I v E S U M MA ry
IT and business services have grown exponentially in size, diversity, and complexity over the past few years. The complexity of many transactional business services has reached a point where the diversity of issues coming from multiple dependencies is way beyond team skills and cooperation. The difficulty of resolving issues in transactions and applications directly affects the quality of service and the enterprise’s overall productivity and revenue. It’s also a source of unplanned work for many IT resources, which has consequences on IT operational costs. Consequently, IT management tools and especially application performance management (APM) and business transaction monitoring (BTM) have gained in importance over the past year. As the competition heats up between APM and BTM vendors, Forrester thinks that an analysis of what the market has to offer is in order.

TABl E O F CO n TE nTS
2 Performance Management: Looking For A Needle In Multiple Haystacks The APM And BTM Solution Build-Up Introducing The Forrester APM reference Model 6 An Analysis Of APM And BTM Vendors Application Flow Monitoring And End User Experience Solutions Forrester APM Model Solutions Business Transaction Monitoring Solutions APM And BTM Converged Solutions The next Step: APM, BTM, BPM, And CEP Converge SWOT Analysis
rECOMMEndATIOnS

n OT E S & rE S O U rCE S
Forrester interviewed 25 vendors of application performance management and business transaction monitoring software products.

Related Research Documents “The Writing On IT’s Complexity Wall” June 30, 2010
“Market Projections For 2010: IT Management Software” February 4, 2010 “Market Overview: The Application Performance Management Market” October 17, 2008

25 How To Prepare For And Select The Right APM-BTM Solution 27 Supplemental Material

© 2010, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited. Information is based on best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. Forrester®, Technographics®, Forrester Wave, RoleView, TechRadar, and Total Economic Impact are trademarks of Forrester Research, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. To purchase reprints of this document, please email [email protected]. For additional information, go to www.forrester.com.

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Competitive Analysis: Application Performance Management And Business Transaction Monitoring
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PeRFORMANce MANAGeMeNT: LOOkING FOR A NeeDLe IN MuLTIPLe HAySTAckS Over the years, IT organizations have reacted to the introduction of new technologies by acquiring management tools to control and manage these technologies. The emphasis in IT operations has always been on the tool “du jour”: network management, Java EE management, and today, virtualization and cloud computing. A few years ago, however, applications became business services built out of multiple distributed pieces, the consequence of which was not only a multiplication of potential issues but also an increased difficulty for IT operations to quickly identify and correct these issues and avoid any significant impact on business productivity. APM, first typically focused on Java EE and .NET frameworks, grew into integrated management suites able to monitor all the moving parts of business services. The goal is to promote team cooperation and facilitate a rapid identification of problem sources. In parallel, another type of solution developed aimed at dynamically understanding each transaction that flows through the application. Through the use of transaction tagging or coloring, these BTM products are aimed at providing an end-toend visibility into business transaction performance. Fundamentally, APM and BTM aim at the same objective of controlling the quality of application/transaction delivery. Several questions arise when considering these management tools:

· Why and when do we need an APM or BTM solution? Charles Perrow has written a book on

the idea of “normal accidents.”1 His theory states that failures are inevitable in tightly coupled, complex technology systems: The inherent complexity leads to unexpected interactions and, through the tight coupling, to a propagation that leads directly to system breakdown. A contrasting “high reliability” theory, promoted by Todd LaPorte of the University of California at Berkeley, says that redundancy and organizational processes can counteract and resolve initial problems and prevent the propagation of failures.2 The high reliability theory, however, is predicated on the availability of all necessary information about the components of the system. In complex, tightly coupled distributed systems, this fundamental requirement for information is what APM and BTM will provide.

· What are the tools available to IT operations? If information is the fundamental requirement

for avoiding breakdowns, the solutions that provide this information must be tailored to the architecture and technology used in building business services. Thus, APM and BTM solutions have different structures as a function of service complexity and coupling, from lightly coupled services to highly complex and tightly coupled ones.

· What is the future of APM and BTM tools? As business services become more and more

complex, the level of abstraction needed to control their performance requires the processing of an increasing number of seemingly unrelated events and a better evaluation of the business impact of performance lapses.3

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· Who are the vendors and what do they offer? Many products are offered on the market, using
different technologies and approaches, but with the same goal of helping IT operations control the complexity of their business services. To provide guidance in product selection, Forrester reviewed 25 vendors in the APM and BTM space.

The APM And BTM Solution Build-up APM and BTM solutions were built progressively and organically over the years, in synchronization with the perceived complexity introduced by new technologies in hardware and software business service components:

· Initially, APM was essentially network-centric. Users of client-server types of applications soon
found that TCP-IP chattiness and network latency could be a problem in moving applications from LAN to WAN. In the mid-90s, OPNET, Optimal Networks (now Compuware), and others offered solutions to analyze network performance from an application standpoint.

· Interest focused quickly to database performance. Precise and Quest Software, among others,
started to focus on the database as a source of application performance issues.

· Java EE and .NET became prominent. The introduction of Java EE applications servers saw a

number of entrants in the monitoring of these applications, closely followed by an interest in .NET. Most, if not all, of these new companies have been acquired by larger IT management vendors.

· Application mapping was introduced. However, the granularity of dependency mapping at

the application level was not really enough to serve as a template for transaction performance management. BTM, with the possibility to map in real time at the individual transaction level, appeared alongside APM solutions.

· APM evolved into a complete monitoring solution. As applications became more complex,

using Web services, SOA, and multitier aggregation, IT operations realized that problems could now come from a number of directions (the “normal accident” theory at play). APM started to include other forms of monitoring, such as end user experience, infrastructure, and database, to complement the Java EE and .NET monitoring.

· BTM and APM converge. Applications will become increasingly complex. The difficulty of

determining the root cause of performance issues in transactional applications spanning a large number of moving parts emphasizes the need to aggregate data into a tool that can provide teams with a pre-analysis and a single view of the transaction dependencies. Thus, BTM transaction mapping and APM deep analysis will tend to converge into a single solution.

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September 9, 2010 | Updated: September 22, 2010

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Competitive Analysis: Application Performance Management And Business Transaction Monitoring
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Forrester believes that application complexity will eventually lead to a model that requires a higher level of abstraction: an understanding of the business process supported by the application and the capability to analyze interactions between business actions and application issues in a complex event processing (CEP) function (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 The Evolution Of Application Performance Management
System management Application network monitoring End user experience monitoring Business transaction management Business process modeling

One and two tier applications

Browser-based applications

N-tier composite applications

Highly integrated business services

Database performance management
57706

Java EE and .NET management

Messaging, Web services, and SOA monitoring

Complex event processing
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

Introducing The Forrester APM Reference Model Based on client inquiries and discussions with APM vendors, Forrester developed a model of what an APM solution should be in 2010 and beyond. This reference model, not surprisingly, is a converged APM and BTM model, and includes the ability to:

· Collect response times by transaction and determine the first level alerting criterion. We
believe that this is best achieved by using: 1) a passive agent that provides true end user performance, and 2) an active agent that provides availability data.

· Understand and map all the components of the transaction. Several solutions are possible, but
we believe that this model must be able to track each type of transaction, or each transaction, through the infrastructure, provide a template for debugging performance problems, and give full visibility into the transaction path. In addition, this dependency data should be available to improve the mapping of dependencies in a CMDB or CMS.

· Monitor applications themselves. This includes Java EE and J2EE application servers,

Microsoft .NET Framework, portal and Web server monitoring, a connector to collect performance data coming from mainframe-based transactions using IBM CICS/DB2 or IMS, messaging technologies such as WebSphere MQ or MQSeries between distributed systems and mainframes, packaged applications provided by vendors such as SAP, Oracle, or other ISVs, and custom applications not written in Java.
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· Monitor performance of the database(s). This includes the ability to analyze specific database
performance issues.

· Monitor the physical and virtual components of the infrastructure. · Combine all these parameters. This leads to the ability to determine an alert, identify the root
cause of this alert, and if possible predict an impending performance issue.

· Provide all this information on a “single-pane-of-glass” dashboard. This should be
customized according to the role of the person using the dashboard. The Forrester reference model is thus a guide that IT operations can use to: 1) evaluate their requirements; 2) perform a gap analysis between requirements and solutions already installed in operations; and 3) evaluate the different solutions available on the market (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 The Forrester APM reference Model
Role-oriented real-time dashboard Combined analytics End user experience monitoring Real user performance monitoring Synthetic user record playback Transaction mapping CMDB connector Application monitoring Java EE and .NET monitoring Messaging monitoring Portal and Web server monitoring Packaged application monitoring Mainframe performance connector Custom application monitoring
57706 Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

Database monitoring Database performance analytics Database performance monitoring

Infrastructure monitoring Network and server monitoring Virtual world monitoring

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Competitive Analysis: Application Performance Management And Business Transaction Monitoring
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AN ANALySIS OF APM AND BTM VeNDORS Using the Forrester reference model as a template, we asked a large number of APM and BTM vendors to describe how well their solutions fit the model. Because application complexity is not consistent across enterprises, vendors may focus on low complexity applications or high complexity business services. As in any good statistical distribution, the mean will conform to the Forrester reference model, with some vendors on each side of the mean (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 The Forrester Survey vendor landscape
Heroix ServicePilot Technologies Visual Network Systems Application flow monitoring and end user experience Correlsense INETCO OpTier Progress Software BTM Forrester APM Model AppDynamics BlueStripe Software Nastel Technologies OpTier Progress Software SL Corporation BPM, CEP, and BTM convergence

BTM and APM convergence

ASG BMC Software Aternity CA Technologies Knoa Compuware HP Software & Solutions IBM Tivoli Nastel Technologies NetIQ OPNET Precise Quest Software SL Corporation
57706

dynaTrace Oracle

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

Application Flow Monitoring And end user experience Solutions In this category we have grouped vendors who offer the capability to monitor applications either from an infrastructure perspective or from an end user workstation perspective:

· Aternity. Headquartered in Westborough, Mass., Aternity was founded in 2004; its R&D group
is based in Israel. Aternity provides end user experience management solutions that are physical- and virtual desktop-based. Aternity’s Frontline Performance Intelligence platform (FPI) is agent-based and monitors any application by passively “listening” for application activity signatures at the desktop operating system level. Aternity’s FPI platform provides a real-time analytics and event correlation engine. An autonomic performance profile or baseline is created for every

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application performance metric collected. These baselines are automatically split by location, subnet, configuration, LDAP-defined department. When performance deviates from the baseline, it’s automatically detected and the probable cause identified. The Aternity FPI platform provides dynamic visualization of desktop, application, and user performance, including reports and drilldown dashboards for: performance comparison by application, business process, location, server, and desktop. Analysis is provided for virtualized versus physical desktop performance, application error, quality of service, SLA, application usage analysis, and usagebased software licensing. Aternity is sold directly or through partners such as system integrators or value-added resellers.

· Heroix. Based in Braintree, Mass., Heroix has several decades of experience in providing

availability and performance management software. Longitude is the application performance management solution.

Heroix Longitude monitors end user experience using an active agent. Element monitoring is provided through specific sensors. Heroix provides agentless sensors to monitor Web servers and standard applications such as Exchange. Longitude monitors Oracle, SQL, and mySQL databases, as well as most of the common elements for networks and servers. Heroix provides an analytical event dashboard and a service-level dashboard. Longitude is sold as a single bundle, with different levels of functionality: Longitude Standard Edition (free for up to 25 devices), Longitude Professional Edition, Longitude Cloud Edition, and Longitude Enterprise Edition.

· Knoa. Knoa specializes in end user performance and quality of service measurement. Founded
in 2003, the company is headquartered in New York City and is privately funded. Knoa’s agent powers a robust architecture for comprehensive real-time monitoring of the end user’s environment, experience, and behavior. Knoa’s agent delivers out-of-the-box monitoring with automated application discovery and agent configuration. Knoa’s monitoring adapts to application changes and discovers new transactions, processes, or user activities. Knoa has a global reseller agreement with SAP and other large vendors. Knoa’s end user monitoring solutions are priced on the basis of the number of monitored end users. The price for a perpetual license for each monitored end user ranges from $50 to $250, based on the monitoring target (e.g., desktop, application-agnostic monitoring, or target application monitoring).

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Competitive Analysis: Application Performance Management And Business Transaction Monitoring
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· ServicePilot Technologies. Based in France with a US office in Houston, ServicePilot

Technologies provides a performance management solution based on network and application delivery component data collection. This complete solution combines fault management, performance management, service-level management, and capacity planning through a unique platform. ServicePilot ISM is a fully integrated IT management solution that collects, consolidates, and correlates information from all IP network components to manage the performance of critical applications. ServicePilot ISM monitors end user experience with active agents, passive agents, and appliances. ServicePilot ISM monitors the quality of service (QoS) parameters and integrates with other management technologies such as Microsoft MOM. ISM offers an SDK and API for communicating with external application monitors. The ServicePilot NBA appliance family provides an application-oriented view of the network traffic and application performances. ServicePilot NBA 700 provides NetFlow, jFlow, and sFlow collectors and analysis, and ServicePilot NBA 300v provides visibility into the virtual environment. ServicePilot NBA for z/OS monitors the transaction traffic with IBM mainframes. The ServicePilot NBA appliances can be integrated into the ServicePilot ISM solution. ServicePilot ISM provides a predictive analysis capability and a fully configurable Web-based reporting dashboard that can be customized according to the user role. ServicePilot ISM is sold as a basic foundation and five different bundles (MSP, VoIP, Lite, Professional, and Enterprise). ServicePilot NBA for z/OS, ServicePilot NBA 700, and ServicePilot NBA 300v have separate licenses.

· Visual Network Systems. Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., Visual Network Systems, formerly
Fluke Networks Systems, is part of the Danaher Corporation. Visual Network Systems was created, separate of Fluke Networks, to take advantage of the application performance management market opportunity.

The company’s flagship solution, Visual Performance Manager (VPM), is a unified system for the management of application, network, and VoIP performance. VPM collects data from sources such as the Application Performance Appliance (APA) and Network Performance Appliance (NPA) and can incorporate third-party data such as Cisco WAAS. It can also leverage data from existing standalone products such as NetAlly, NetFlow Tracker, and Visual UpTime Select. The solution can address end user performance monitoring through an active test (NetAlly Traffic Agent), a passive downloadable agent (NetAlly Dynamic Traffic Agent) for browser-based applications, or a passive network monitoring appliance (Application Performance Appliance). VPM provides the capability to configure any number of n-tier applications as a collection of standard or customer applications for which dependencies will be automatically determined in the VPM Data Model. These transactions can then be navigated and visualized using the VPM Transaction Viewer. The VPM domain data model

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enables users to view related metrics in the context of applications, sites, servers, and interfaces. Database performance is monitored through the APA, which records metrics on all transactions performed on the databases. VPM provides root-cause analysis capability by supporting a set of problem-specific workflows and providing associated information for infrastructure and application troubleshooting. VPM offers a customizable, role-based dashboard that can be built from panels and data provided by VPM and can also include external Web application content. VPM is offered as a single bundle (professional suite or enterprise suite) or as multiple SKUs. Forrester APM Model Solutions This category groups vendors whose products are close in scope and capabilities to the Forrester APM reference model:

· ASG. Headquartered in Naples, Fla., ASG was founded by Arthur Allen in 1986. With more

than 1,000 employees located in more than 70 sites worldwide, it has an extensive portfolio of IT and business management solutions. Forrester estimates ASG IT management software revenue for 2009 at $266 million.

ASG’s application performance management solution is based on the TMON product family, which includes performance monitoring solutions for mainframe (CICS, IMS, etc.) and distributed applications (Java EE and .NET). ASG-TeVISTA provides both active and passive desktop-based end user experience monitoring. ASG solutions are integrated with ASG’s metaCMDB, a configuration management system (CMS) based on ITIL v3. Reporting is through ASG’s metaManager reporting dashboard, which is linked directly to ASG’s metaCMDB for service mapping and visualization. ASG solutions can integrate with the client’s existing products: ASG’s metaManager provides management views at a summary level with the capability to drill down to other subsequent dashboards and/or specific point products. Depending on the specific technology requirements of the customer, ASG provides both a series of Business Service Portfolio (BSP) solutions which contain multiple products or standalone point products.

· BMC Software. BMC Software was created in 1980 and became public in 1988. The company

is headquartered in Houston. BMC has about 6,000 employees worldwide. Forrester estimates BMC 2009 IT management software revenue at $1.77 billion.

BMC provides a complete solution for application performance management based on BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management (BPPM). This solution includes both real and synthetic transaction capabilities, including a passive end user experience agent deployed as a software process or within a VM as a virtual appliance. BPPM maps transaction topologies and traces individual transactions down to the application layer. This information can be correlated

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with the application model discovered by BMC Application Discovery and Dependency Mapping (ADDM) and populated in the BMC Atrium CMDB. BPPM Application Diagnostics continuously gathers detailed application diagnostic data from Java EE and .NET application servers for rapid root-cause isolation. BMC BPPM Application, Database, and Middleware Monitoring with Analytics monitors transactions running through Web application servers and messaging middleware as well as packaged applications like SAP, Oracle Applications, PeopleSoft, and Siebel CRM. Data collected is automatically integrated with a self-learning analytics engine. BMC Middleware Management traces messaging middleware transactions by monitoring performance, flow, and payload contents in distributed and mainframe environments. On the mainframe application side, BMC MainView Transaction Analyzer tracks real transactions flowing through multiple z/OS subsystems, including CICS, DB2, IMS, and WebSphere MQ. BMC provides a single reporting dashboard for both IT operations and line of business owners that provides an operational view of applications issues. All data collected is automatically processed by the BPPM predictive analytics and predictive correlation engines to proactively detect, diagnose, alert, and prioritize application performance issues within a business services context. BPPM is a single bundled product. All required capabilities, from transaction monitoring to infrastructure and application monitoring, along with analytics and J2EE/.NET application diagnostics, are included in this one bundled product. Additional solutions for middleware and mainframe management can be added.

· CA Technologies. CA is the IT management software market leader in revenues. CA’s solutions

cover all aspects of service and system management — and all platforms from mobile to mainframe. CA has offices worldwide and approximately 13,800 employees. CA fiscal year 2010 revenue was reported at $4.353 billion.

CA Service Assurance is a portfolio that includes CA Application Performance Management (APM), CA Infrastructure Management, and CA Business Service Analytics. CA APM includes Wily Transaction Generator (WTG), a synthetic transaction generator used to simulate transactions; CA Application Response, a desktop-based agent; and Customer Experience Manager (CEM), a software appliance performance monitoring product that provides comprehensive visibility into end user experience. CA APM captures individual transactions via transaction traces that display the execution path and relationship of components within a domain boundary and across domain boundaries. CA APM provides an application triage map that includes Web service calls, process flows, and messaging systems (WebSphere MQ, TIBCO, and webMethods Broker). CA APM captures performance-related metrics for Java running on both distributed and mainframe (z/OS and z/Linux) and .NET applications and from external systems via the CA APM EPAgent. CA APM manages packaged applications such as SAP NetWeaver (SAP sells CA APM as SAP Solution Manager Diagnostics). Citrix, Oracle Forms, and SAP GUI are monitored through CA Application Response. CA Database Performance is an add-on option to CA APM.

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CA APM is packaged and sold as a fully integrated solution that includes CA Wily Introscope and CA Wily CEM. Integrated mainframe support is available for complete cross-platform application performance management. Add-on options include: CA NetQoS SuperAgent, an appliance that monitors every TCP application packet; and CA Database Performance for distributed databases. With the release of CA APM 9 in June 2010, CEM’s Transaction Events and Statistics Server (TESS) is integrated with the Introscope Enterprise Manager. In addition, CEM’s Transaction Impact Monitor (TIM) is provided as a software appliance.

· Compuware. Based in Detroit, Compuware has about 5,000 employees and a strong focus on
APM solutions. Compuware has acquired Gomez, a Web performance monitoring company based in Lexington, Mass. The addition of Gomez, combined with Compuware’s Vantage and mainframe solutions, enables Compuware to manage performance across the mainframe, the data center, the Internet, and the cloud. Forrester estimates Compuware IT management software revenue at $486 million in 2009.

Compuware’s APM solution combines the well-known Vantage products and Gomez services. Gomez provides the outside-in view from a workstation or mobile standpoint. Vantage provides protocol and GUI-level record and playback active agent technology and a real end user experience monitoring appliance that passively captures performance data via span ports or network taps. Transaction mapping models are dynamically built by observing the application’s execution traffic. Java EE and .NET data are collected through a JVM and CLR instrumentation that doesn’t require application changes. Application mapping data is integrated and used as part of the application analysis. The solution also provides deep level monitoring of the performance on the mainframe. Agents are installed on the local systems and gather metrics provided by the operating system or application APIs. The Compuware solution can provide role-relevant dashboards through a SaaS model or as a software installation. Compuware offers specific solution bundles that combine outside-the-firewall Web performance monitoring (Gomez), benchmark analysis (Gomez), and inside-the-firewall performance monitoring (Vantage), along with product-related services to deploy, configure, and customize the service to meet specific customer requirements. Compuware also offers a portfolio of solutions that can be assembled to meet specific customer requirements.

· HP Software & Solutions. HP is one of the big-four vendors in the ITMS market through its

HP Software business unit, with major centers in France, Germany, Israel, and the US. HP has a total of 172,000 employees, and Forrester estimates that there are now more than 2,500 sales specialists selling HP Software products. Fiscal revenues for ITMS within the HP Software business unit for 2009 were estimated at $1.786 billion.

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HP provides an active response time monitor (Business Process Monitor) and a passive appliance monitor (Real User Monitor). Transaction management is provided by the combination of HP TransactionVision, which tracks and correlates transaction events; HP Diagnostics for J2EE instrumentation; and RUM behavioral traffic collection. HP Business Process Insight lets the user predefine transaction models that can receive events generated by all components in the transaction path. HP Diagnostics and Sitescope provide monitoring data from Java EE, .NET, and other applications, including packaged and custom ones. TransactionVision provides mainframe transaction connectors to CICS and IMS. HP provides solutions for database monitoring and physical and virtual infrastructure monitoring. Problem Isolation and Operations Manager I (OMi) provides dashboards and predictive analysis based on monitored data and event correlation. HP solution is sold as a single bundle that includes Business Process Monitor, Real User Monitor, Diagnostics, and SLM in a single SKU. This is priced by application instance. TransactionVision, Business Process Insight, and other components can be purchased as options.

· IBM Tivoli. IBM Tivoli is one of the big-four IT management software vendors and provides
comprehensive solutions for the management of IT. According to Forrester’s estimates, IBM Tivoli’s ITMS revenues in 2009 were $2.568 billion.

IBM Tivoli Composite Application Monitoring (ITCAM) is based on four modules: ITCAM for Transactions, ITCAM for Application Diagnostics, ITCAM for Applications, and IBM Tivoli Monitoring. ITCAM for Transactions includes an active response time agent, a desktop agent, an appliance-based solution and tracking capability. It also provides a true instancebased end-to-end transaction breakdown and a set of mainframe-based data collectors for transaction tracking within mainframe components (CICS, IMS, CTG, WebSphere, and MQ) and can enrich IBM’s CMDB to complement business service models. ITCAM for Application Diagnostics monitors Java EE transactions across multiple JVMs and into CICS and IMS subsystems as well as the .NET framework. ITCAM for Applications provides proactive monitoring and management of ERP applications, including SAP, Siebel, and PeopleSoft. ITCAM for Applications provides intelligent monitoring of database servers, including DB2, Oracle, and Sybase. IBM Tivoli Monitoring monitors physical devices with agent and agentless capabilities. Virtual infrastructure monitoring includes platform coverage for VMware, Hyper-V, Solaris Zones, z/VM, Citrix XenApp, and virtual AIX environments. IBM proactively defines autothresholds based on normal behavior. The Tivoli APM solution has a single user interface for all statuses, including relationship between application components, real-time, and historical information that spans the entire spectrum of application coverage.

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The Tivoli APM solution includes a base solution that focuses on server OS monitoring, with an extension for virtual environments. For applications, there are two packages: one for Microsoft technologies and one for Linux and Unix environments. Additionally, there are bundles for application diagnostics and transaction tracking that provide deep dives and visibility across the application environment.

· Nastel Technologies. Founded in 1994 and based in Melville, N.Y., Nastel is a privately held

company. Nastel has been present in the transaction and application monitoring business since its creation, first at the distributed to mainframe messaging level (WebSphere MQ), then expanding to include the performance management of composite n-tier applications, business impact, and business analysis.

Nastel AutoPilot TransactionWorks automatically discovers transaction flow from collected or user-defined data sources. Transactions are then tracked through a variety of components (Java, .NET, JMS, MQ, TIBCO/EMS, z/OS, CICS, etc.), including payload information. AutoPilot provides an extensive monitoring of Java EE and a tool kit to help end users instrument their custom, non-Java EE applications. AutoPilot monitors all typical forms of messaging technologies and provides performance monitoring of MS SQL, Oracle, and DB2 databases. AutoPilot CEP integrates events from AutoPilot and third-party monitoring solutions to provide a predictive analysis of application and transaction behavior (normal versus abnormal) and provides a role-based dashboard. Nastel AutoPilot is a product family and can be sold as a single bundle or as separate SKUs.

· NetIQ. NetIQ was acquired by Attachmate and is now a private company. Originally based

on AppManager with a focus on Microsoft products, NetIQ has a portfolio of solutions for enterprise system and application management, operational VMware management, security management, configuration control, enterprise migration support, and especially IT process automation.

AppManager Response Time for Windows provides visibility into the end user experience for any application accessed via the Windows desktop, including Microsoft Exchange (via Outlook), SharePoint, Siebel, SAP, and custom or local desktop applications. NetIQ supports applications such as WebSphere, WebLogic, and SharePoint and offers a large number of out-ofthe-box modules that target diverse IT infrastructures, commercial applications, and databases. NetIQ provides hardware monitoring modules for IBM, HP, Siemens, and Dell servers. NetIQ AppManager Performance Profiler is a self-learning, continuously configuring, and continuously adapting technology that profiles dynamic application behavior and sends Trusted Alarms that helps troubleshoot system incidents. NetIQ Aegis provides support for the workflow automation of event management processes and is used to tie AppManager into service desk applications and other management tools.

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NetIQ offers à la carte pricing and licensing for the NetIQ AppManager Suite (including all modules, NetIQ AppManager Performance Profiler, and NetIQ Analysis Center). Bundle models or enterprise license agreements are available, for example: Windows Applications Management Bundle, Enterprise Applications Management Bundle, or VMware Management Bundle.

· OPNET. Based in the Washington, D.C. area, OPNET has been a well-respected leader in

infrastructure performance, capacity modeling, and analysis since its founding in 1986. OPNET acquired a solid position in application performance management by complementing its expertise in infrastructure performance with the 2004 acquisition of Altaworks, a pioneer in Java EE and .NET monitoring, and more recently with database performance monitoring elements from Embarcadero, and by entering into a partnership agreement with Keynote, a competitor to Gomez-Compuware.

OPNET has assembled a complete APM solution: OPNET’s Response Xpert combines multiple functions in a single appliance that passively monitors end user experience, provides application discovery, and collects packets, NetFlow, and VoIP data. Response Xpert includes an active agent that executes ping tests, port tests, and URL tests complemented by desktop-based passive AppTransaction Xpert agents. This is complemented by Keynote’s capability to provide an outside-in view of Web site performance. AppTransaction Xpert traces transactions by building a behavioral model from the packet data collected. AppInternals Xpert provides deep application transaction tracing into the JVM or CLR to provide method-level visibility for all transactions using byte-code instrumentation. Packaged applications performance metrics are streamed into AppInternals Xpert through standard adapters. On the mainframe side, Response Xpert is used to monitor throughput, transaction rate, response time, and connection setup for any mainframe operating system, and AppTransaction Xpert performs detailed analysis on application transactions to/from the mainframe. AppInternals Xpert ships with adapters to obtain metrics from a number of popular databases. However, this support is expected to expand significantly due to the recent addition of the AppSQL Xpert solution, contributed by the acquisition of an enterprise-class database monitoring product line from Embarcadero Technologies. On the infrastructure side, OPNET’s NetMirror automatically maintains a detailed data model of large-scale production infrastructure, including logical and physical device configuration, topology, traffic/resource utilization, and status. ACE Live and Panorama maintain long-term performance databases for trending and planning and use detailed behavioral transaction models to evaluate application performance under various network conditions and application configurations. This lets application designers alter transaction characteristics or “design” new behavior and simulate the resulting performance. NetOpsCenter, an established IT operations solution from OPNET , combines data, alarms, and analyses from multiple domain solutions into a Web-based dashboard with real-time maps of infrastructure and application flows.

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OPNET’s APM solutions are typically sold together but are not bundled.

· Precise. Initially created as Precise Software Solutions in 1990, Precise was first acquired by

Veritas (2003), which was then acquired by Symantec (2004). Precise was then spun off by Symantec in 2008 and became an independent company headquartered in Redwood Shores, Calif. Precise was originally one of the leaders in database performance management and evolved into application performance management as early as 2002. Precise Transaction Performance Manager (TPM) provides an original approach to end user monitoring. An active agent is available as well as page instrumentation and a server-side passive monitor. Page instrumentation and server-side collection are correlated to provide a complete understanding of the end user experience. Precise uses transaction tagging to follow each transaction through the different processing steps. This mapping can be imported into a CMDB or CMS. Precise uses byte-code instrumentation to monitor Java EE and .NET applications and several solutions for packaged application monitoring. Precise measures and reports the latency of transactions using messaging technologies and mainframe backend. As for database performance monitoring, Precise is true to its roots by providing an extensive ability to determine bottlenecks and performance issues at the database and storage level. Precise offers some level of infrastructure monitoring and the capability to integrate data from other enterprise management systems. Precise can track and monitor transactions in a cloud, virtual, and mixed environment. Precise provides a single-pane-of-glass dashboard for executives, application experts, and IT operations experts. Precise offers centralized analytics for the rootcause analysis of infrastructure, application, and business transaction issues.

Precise TPM is sold as several bundles: Precise for Java EE or .NET, Precise for Packaged Applications bundles (e.g., SAP, Siebel, Oracle Apps, etc.), Precise for Databases bundles (Oracle, DB2, MS SQL, etc.), and Precise for Storage Tiering bundles for database and storage.

· Quest Software. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Quest Software is

well-known for its database, Microsoft Windows, and APM products. Quest employs more than 3,400 people worldwide and reports 2009 revenue of $695 million.

Quest Foglight offers two solutions to monitor end user experience: an active agent to record/ play back transactions and an appliance-based passive agent (a desktop-based agent is under consideration). The data collected at this level and at the application level is used to track transactions through the infrastructure components. Foglight monitors Java EE and .NET applications as well as packaged ones such as Microsoft Exchange, Oracle eBusiness Suite, PeopleSoft, and Siebel. Mainframe data can be integrated through an SNMP collector. WebSphere MQ messaging services are also monitored between distributed applications and the mainframe. Quest offers a comprehensive solution for the performance monitoring of databases such as Oracle, DB2, Sybase, and SQL Server. On the infrastructure side, Quest monitors

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servers and networks. A predictive performance management is provided to detect performance issues in virtual environments. Quest offers a management portal that provides role-based views of applications and their dependencies in real time. Quest Foglight is packaged as a series of building blocks: user experience, application performance, database performance, infrastructure performance, and third-party integration. These blocks complement the Foglight Foundation and the Foglight Management Server.

· SL Corporation. SL Corporation was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Corte Madera,

Calif. The roots of SL Corporation are in control and command systems for industrial applications. The experience gained in process control application is visible in their approach, which is to collect data from multiple sources and report it on a single pane of glass for analysis. RTView provides enterprise visibility in application performance management, business activity monitoring, and the visualization of CEP. RTView supports the monitoring of custom J2EE and .NET applications and offers extensive support of monitoring complex distributed applications that use messaging middleware or ESBs. RTView also provides an active agent to collect end user level performance data. RTView gathers performance metrics via a wide variety of standard “data adapters,” including among others JMX, JMS, WMI, SQL, SNMP, as well as a simple API for creating custom adapters or agents. Performance metrics can be collected not only from instrumented middleware like BPM suites, application servers, and database servers, but also from other monitoring tools that expose their performance metrics in standard ways. Correlation and alerts are then performed in memory resident caches. RTView Historian allows for persistence of performance metrics via relational databases. The historical data is used for predictive analysis of trends in component and application behavior; historical data provides the ability to create trusted alerts triggered not against fixed thresholds but against dynamically calculated baselines that take into account typical loads during different periods of the workday. SL includes a very extensive dashboard building tool that allows users to create tailored real-time dashboards that can be delivered as a desktop application or as a browser-based solution that uses Ajax and Flex technologies.

SL can be packaged as a single bundle for application-based pricing. The standard RTView for APM platform is a single SKU and single download with a single code-base. A multiple SKU option is available for a more granular pricing of a solution based on the size of system being monitored. This consists of modular packages that support alerting and samples, templates, and composite objects that provide out-of-the-box monitoring for commonly seen infrastructure and middleware components. Business Transaction Monitoring Solutions In this category, products are based on a unique capability to map and follow individual transactions throughout the infrastructure, report on overall performances, and provide an indication of transaction latency within infrastructure components:

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· Correlsense. Correlsense is a private company founded in 2005 and based in Framingham,

Mass. Correlsense’s management team includes industry experts and veterans of the IT and systems management industry. Correlsense is a typical business transaction management solution that traces and maps transactions while maintaining the end user request context for any application, protocol, architecture, messaging engines/brokers, or development technology. SharePath can trace the complete path of any transaction through virtual and physical servers and virtual and physical networks. SharePath builds a transaction model for each transaction type to show how it typically utilizes the infrastructure and then creates automatic baselines to provide alerting capabilities and information about a deviation from normal operating tolerances. Correlsense uses an active agent and a browser-based passive extension for end user experience monitoring.

SharePath transaction path detection software is provided with a “starter package” that includes 25 collectors, five application dashboards, a central transaction repository, and a basic package of implementation and training.

· INETCO. A recognized technology leader in TCP/IP business transaction management for the
financial services industry, INETCO has products currently deployed within financial, retail, and telecommunications IT environments in more than 50 countries. INETCO is based in Vancouver.

INETCO Insight captures transaction performance and end user experience using a passive network-based agent. INETCO Insight uses a combination of time-based correlation and fieldbased correlation (e.g., customer ID, cardholder number, IP addresses, etc.) to tie multiple messages, across multiple network links and applications into a single business transaction path. Most INETCO Insight customers pair Insight’s end-to-end visibility with a deepdive monitoring tool appropriate to their platform. The former provides real-time alerting, on-demand reporting, problem isolation support, and overall performance optimization guidance, and the latter supports focused troubleshooting. INETCO Insight isolates the source of performance problems by showing where in the transaction execution path a failure or slowdown occurred. Operators can search for problematic transactions or visualize transaction performance graphically over an eight-day window then drill down into business, application, and network infrastructure performance information for any transaction. INETCO Insight provides access to both real-time and recent historical transaction performance information through a single dashboard. INETCO Insight is priced based on monthly transaction volumes and provided as either a perpetual license with maintenance or term subscription license and is provided as a single bundle.

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· OpTier. Founded in 2003, OpTier is based in New York City with offices in France, the UK, and
Australia, and R&D in Israel. OpTier’s original product, CoreFirst, was the pioneer in BTM. The OpTier Business Transaction Management suite (OpTier Experience Manager and OpTier CoreFirst) delivers real-time transaction dependency mapping based on the Active Context Tracking (ACT) technology. This real-time living topology map is based on real traffic flows across application components. Experience Manager (EM) is a passive end user experience monitor that uses a network TAP/Span port to capture and monitor transaction traffic. OpTier supports J2EE and .NET platforms by measuring the time spent by each transaction on each application server tier, various resource metrics such as CPU consumption by transaction, by application and by users, tier heap size and I/O count. OpTier BTM also captures time spent between tiers. Packaged applications deployed on standard underlying Web, messaging bus, application server, and database supported by OpTier are monitored. OpTier provides an SDK for C, C++, Java, .NET, C# for application instrumentation as well as log parsing capabilities. Calls to mainframe components such as MQ, CICS, IMS, and DB/2 are monitored to show the time spent on the mainframe as part of the overall execution as well as details of the mainframe services invoked. OpTier provides production business impact analysis, alerting for avoidance purposes and isolation of problems in several dimensions: by application, time, business process, type of transaction, geography, user tier, and SLAs. OpTier’s newest solution, OpTier Business Events, is a CEP engine and provides complex event correlation between BTM, APM, BPM data and any other relevant third-party data sources. OpTier BTM is available as a single bundled solution that includes Experience Manager and CoreFirst. Experience Manager and CoreFirst are seamlessly integrated with a single UI, single data store, and integrated workflow. OpTier recently announced a new product bundle, Experience Manager Plus BTM Starter Edition as a low cost, seamless solution that enables proactive monitoring and faster problem resolution.

· Progress Software. Progress Software was founded in 1981 as Data Language (changed to

Progress Software in 1987). Based in Bedford, Mass., Progress Software employs 1,650 persons. Progress Software has a broad portfolio that combines business process management (BPM), business transaction assurance (BTA), and business event processing (BEP) with integration capabilities.

Progress Software has one of the most advanced BTM solutions. At the heart of the solution is Progress Actional, which includes patented technology to automatically tag and correlate end-to-end transactions as they flow across dozens of different types of technologies, platforms, and applications. Actional correlates application level logs and business data from payloads to individual transactions and can display all app level logs and business documents associated with a single unique business transaction — along with the transaction topology map (i.e., sequence diagram) for this unique transaction and the end user performance collected passively

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or actively by the Actional Agent. Actional supports both .NET and Java application servers (WebSphere, WebLogic, Oracle OAS, Glassfish, NetWeaver, Tomcat, and JBoss). Actional uses a combination of byte-code instrumentation as well as leveraging predefined plug-points in these platforms. Actional supports SAP (both NetWeaver and ABAP halves of the SAP application architecture) and custom applications written in Java, .NET, C++, or SAP ABAP. Actional supports most messaging technologies and captures metrics for database activities. Actional provides root-cause analysis tools to deal for performance brownouts, situational issues (for example, when only one customer/region/partner is affected), and sporadic failures (for example, when one in 10,000 transactions is affected). Progress Apama (also part of the RPM Suite) can take information from Actional and perform complex pattern detection activities around it, looking for anomalies that Actional might not otherwise detect. This might include, for example, detecting a cross-correlation between different transactions that might be the root cause of an issue. Actional provides a single unified Web-based user interface (including dashboards) from which all information can be seen and all controls occur. As part of the Progress RPM Suite, Progress’ Control Tower provides a higher level single interface to see and control activity across all of the RPM products (including Actional, Apama, and Savvion). Actional is a single unified product line with three separate components (one if which is optional): Actional Management Server (deployed centrally), Actional Agents (deployed on each machine to be managed), and Actional Team Server (optional — deployed centrally in conjunction with the Actional Management Server). Progress Software Actional is sold as Software AG Insight. APM And BTM converged Solutions This category is composed of two types of solutions that tend to bridge APM and BTM. AppDynamics and dynaTrace come from a BTM foundation but add the depth of APM to their data collection, while HP Software & Solutions and Oracle propose what is fundamentally an APM solution that conforms to the Forrester model but with the added capability of tracing individual transactions:

· AppDynamics. Located in San Francisco, AppDynamics came out of stealth mode in February

2010. Jyoti Bansal, the founder and CEO, was the lead architect of Wily Technology (now part of CA Technologies) and a pioneer in application performance management.

AppDynamics is based on the automated dynamic discovery of applications tiers and the mapping of the transaction flow (patented “Dynamic Flow Mapping technology”). Advanced transaction discovery capabilities include real-time request, payload inspection, and grouping of transactions for tracking purposes. AppDynamics provide a holistic, multidimensional view of both business transaction performance and infrastructure health, with application topologies and data flows as well as metrics on loads, response times, and error rates. The incident workbench quickly analyzes and solves performance problems on a single console, including

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slow transaction performance, high error rates, memory leaks, slow database performance, deadlock, and thread contention issues and more. Hot spots are displayed to indicate which parts of the application code are taking the most time, and call graphs can be easily exported to development teams for collaborative problem resolution. AppDynamics provides three editions of its product: AppDynamics Lite is a free download version, AppDynamics Standard is the typical licensed version, and AppDynamics Cloud has hooks and features for the management of apps in the public or private clouds.

· BlueStripe Software. Created in June 2007, BlueStripe Software is located in the Research

Triangle Park of Raleigh/Durham in North Carolina. BlueStripe is an application management software company founded by veterans of Wily Technology and Relicore. BlueStripe’s FactFinder solution dynamically identifies and maps any TCP/IP connected application, the resources used, and the paths that transactions take across the infrastructure without specific configuration or application instrumentation. FactFinder monitors applications at the service level while bridging to the application process level, rising above application code and technology-specific resources to identify complete application systems automatically. FactFinder provides visibility into key application areas such as transaction paths and hop-byhop performance, process-to-process interaction for every application process/component, and shared resources, such as middleware, database, storage, or Web services. Using application system maps, FactFinder can identify problems caused directly by overusing shared resources or by conflicting applications such as a systemwide backup or virus scan. FactFinder operates across any of today’s complex environments, including virtual and cloud infrastructure, and integrates into other management tool solutions such as service desk or systems monitoring tools. FactFinder is packaged and delivered as a single product. There is one management extension for integrating with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, which brings Systems Center users the benefits of application-level visibility and monitoring. FactFinder does not require application instrumentation or a network appliance.

· dynaTrace. Founded in 2005, dynaTrace is a private company with headquarters in Waltham,
Mass. and Linz, Austria. Bernd Greifeneder, CTO and founder, was the person behind technologies such as SilkPerformer and SilkCentral Test Manager, now acquired by Borland from Segue.

dynaTrace provides an active EUE agent and a passive agent (Ajax) as a free download. There is an agreement with Coradiant to provide an EUE appliance. dynaTrace PurePath technology provides a mapping of transaction dependencies coupled with data collectors. The collectors send the data collected to a repository from which real-time dashboards are produced. The data

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collectors are provided either by dynaTrace itself (Java EE for example) or through an active community that can provide open source plug-ins. The dynaTrace community portal provides not only technology but also information on best practices, training, and documentation. dynaTrace is available as a single bundle that includes end user experience. Several editions are available for development, test, and production.

· Oracle. Beginning operations in June 1977, Oracle employed more than 105,000 worldwide as
of May 31, 2010, including the Sun acquisition.4 Oracle offers databases, hardware, operating systems, storage, middleware, applications, and IT management solutions. Oracle Enterprise Manager is Oracle’s IT management solution, essentially aimed at managing IT’s core business of database, middleware, and applications.

Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) integrates multiple products into a complete APM/BTM solution. Oracle Real User Experience Insight monitors performance and usage analysis. Oracle Business Transaction Management (Oracle BTM) automatically discovers and maps end-to-end transactions and reports on the performance metrics, exception status, and business context (payload). JVM Diagnostics is used to monitor Java EE and .NET-based application components, and Oracle Application Management Pack monitors packaged applications like Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Siebel, Oracle PeopleSoft, Oracle JD Edwards, and Oracle Billing and Revenue Management. OEM does not provide a direct access to mainframe monitoring data; however, messaging systems (including IBM MQ Series, Oracle AQ) are monitored. Individual transactions flowing through the message system, including those based on JMS, WCF, Tibco BW, Biztalk, etc., are monitored end-to-end. Oracle Database includes a built-in repository called Automatic Workload Repository (AWR). The Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM) analyzes the data in Oracle’s Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) to discover the actual cause behind performance problems. Enterprise Manager provides comprehensive performance and availability monitoring for infrastructures, physical and virtual. Enterprise Manager Application dashboards provide an enterprisewide view of the applications monitored — including both custom and packaged applications. These dashboards provide high-level summaries of the availability and performance of these applications as well as information about the service levels achieved, status of the underlying services and infrastructure components, policy violations and alerts, configuration changes, and provisioning jobs. Oracle Enterprise Manager APM is sold as multiple SKUs: Real User Experience Insight, Service Level Management Pack, Management Pack for Oracle Coherence, Management Pack for WebCenter Suite, SOA Management Pack Enterprise Edition, WebLogic Server Management Pack Enterprise Edition, Application Management Packs (one per Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Siebel, Oracle PeopleSoft, and Oracle JD Edwards), Management Pack for Non-Oracle Middleware, Diagnostics Pack for Database, Diagnostics Pack for Middleware, and Oracle VM Management Pack.

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The Next Step: APM, BTM, BPM, And ceP converge Complex event processing is most probably the first step in the evolution of application performance management. All products reviewed are using some form of statistical-based analysis to distinguish normal from abnormal behavior of applications and transactions. Nastel seems to have taken this analysis one step further by adding a level of inference to its solution. Progress Software has already made the jump into CEP by combining its expertise in BTM and BPM. OpTier recently acquired a solution and announced its intention to enter the advanced field of CEP. SL Corporation, based on its process control automation past, has provided event correlation for a long time, and further integrates with major CEP vendors. In an extremely complex environment, CEP can procure a number of benefits such as a better evaluation of business impact and business consequences that are not obvious to IT operations. It can also provide IT operations with business events that could help uncover the true cause of workload increases or performance issues. Eventually, there is a direct connection to the automation of a number of tasks in IT operations. If an inference engine can point an engineer in the right direction, then automating corrective actions by using either workload or IT process automation is just one step away. SWOT Analysis Because enterprises are at different levels of business services complexity, IT operations may approach the implementation of an APM solution from multiple angles. To help in the selection process, Forrester did not arbitrarily rate these solutions but proposes instead a strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat (SWOT) analysis of the vendors (see Figure 4).

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Figure 4 vendor SWOT Analysis At A Glance
Strength AppDynamics Technology that bridges APM and BTM ASG Complete product portfolio and original solutions Weakness Young and unknown company The breadth of ASG product portfolio outside of APM leads to a dispersion of its APM marketing efforts Limited to internal enterprise applications No deep dive at the code-level Opportunity Free download can make it a popular solution Strength of its different approach to the CMDB and dashboard solution Only type of solution that provides true end user experience data for any application type Threat Acquisition by a larger vendor APM solution is not visible enough

Aternity First step into application performance management BlueStripe Automatic identification and mapping of all TCP/IP connected apps and their surrounding systems

Needs partnerships or risks being left behind as market progresses

Leverage broad Acquisition target? coverage and problem solving capabilities to penetrate complex environments Capitalize on the The APM message Phurnace and could be lost in the MQSoftware BSM message acquisitions to expand the scope of APM Continue to capitalize on the Wily name and emphasize Catalyst for seamless integration Gomez acquisition leads to a SaaS solution that should appeal to many Can become a valid converged solution contender with the right partnerships Expansion through open source and partnerships Perceived complexity is a handicap compared with more nimble or focused solutions Maybe too much focus on end user experience? Acquisition by a larger vendor

BMC Software Solid foundation with BMC is not a the ProactiveNet household name in solution backed by APM the breadth of BMC portfolio CA Complete solution Technologies built on household names: Wily, Spectrum, and NetQoS Compuware Strong focus on APM and end user experience with solid solutions Correlsense Appears as a strong contender in BTM The service assurance solution may appear as too complex for some clients; too many moving parts Must still work on market perception to become a leader Relatively unknown in a space that still requires clarification for many potential clients

dynaTrace Technology that Needs to confirm its bridges APM and BTM name and reputation and bringing both in a crowded market breadth and depth Heroix Easy to deploy and well packaged solution from a solid, if small, vendor
57706

May appear as too light a solution compared with traditional APM vendors for some clients Lack of visibility

Relatively unknown

Can be seen as a first step into APM with the right message

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

© 2010, Forrester research, Inc. reproduction Prohibited

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Figure 4 vendor SWOT Analysis At A Glance (Cont.)
Strength HP Software Complete solution & Solutions with solid complementary technologies close to BTM Weakness Too many moving parts; needs to be a tighter package Opportunity A large base and a good reputation make the solution appealing Threat Fear of the megavendor fueled by apparent complexity limits the appeal Simpler and easier to deploy solutions that could integrate easily into an existing environment Lacks market visibility

IBM Tivoli Broad portfolio that Too many options and Very large customer builds into a complete moving parts make it base and links with APM solution appear complex other IBM Software solutions INETCO Very focused and effective solution May appear as too focused for enterprises at large Message the advantages of effectiveness in business and timesensitive environments Only type of solution that provides true end user experience data for any application type An alternative between BTM and traditional APM solutions; advanced CEP technology

Knoa SAP-recommended Limited to internal solution and first step enterprise in application applications performance management Nastel Well rounded Technologies technology with years of experience and expertise in transaction monitoring NetIQ Strong experience of the application management market OPNET A complete solution backed by OPNET’s stellar reputation in global performance analysis OpTier The company that defined BTM Oracle All the components of an APM-BTM converged solution with the strength a leader in packaged applications and databases
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Needs more partnerships with application vendors Needs to find market recognition

Still relatively unknown, despite strong progress in the past year NetIQ is not perceived as a true composite application APM competitor Gaining some traction, but still needs to get the message out there about APM

NetIQ can use its Needs more market unique integration visibility capability to compete against more monolithic solutions OPNET has a large Keeping the same base of installed stellar reputation in network performance a different market analysis solutions Must find a way to expand its appeal with medium/large clients Not seen by many as an enterprise management vendor

Find a market Established as the direction for CoreFirst BTM reference against converged APM-BTM solutions Too many things to integrate into a clear and powerful message The potential to be the overall leader in APM-BTM convergence

Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

September 9, 2010 | Updated: September 22, 2010

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Figure 4 vendor SWOT Analysis At A Glance (Cont.)
Strength Weakness Opportunity Provides a solid solution to prospects afraid of large vendor tsunamis Take the high end of the APM-BTM market by storm Threat Must regain its reputation for advanced technologies Progress is not perceived as a management solution vendor Must work on its competitive differentiation message Must work on its competitive differentiation message and establish its presence May not appear as an APM player right away, which will limit its appeal Must work on its competitive differentiation message
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.

Precise A strong Java EE, .NET, Has been in the and database shadow of Symantec performance solution for too long; needs to regain market presence Progress Probably the most Only for the well Software advanced solution informed, not available in the BTM immediately visible as space a BTM solution Quest A complete solution Software with a clear strength in database performance management ServicePilot A complete solution Technologies well adapted as a foundation for application performance monitoring

Lacks a clear Capitalize on its differentiation installed base message which could be perceived as a lack of focus on APM Very much Copy a page of the infrastructure-centric; Nimsoft book needs to beef up pure application code monitoring Ability to capitalize on installed solutions that users want to keep Entry level into APM for medium and medium-large enterprises

Must build a stronger SL A true integration message to enter the Corporation solution supporting team cooperation and APM space root cause analysis Visual A solid foundation for Still very much infrastructure- and Network application network-centric Systems performance management and a good name
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r E C O M M E n d AT I O n S

HOW TO PRePARe FOR AND SeLecT THe RIGHT APM-BTM SOLuTION
Best practices suggest that APM is only one component in a chain: A tighter release management leads to a better control of business services and an easier identification of issues. A better change and configuration management process reduces the risk of failed change that will create downstream failures. A better capacity planning and management will avoid some performance issues in production. We believe that a good solution actually stems from both the organization and the tools it uses to manage services:

· IT operations must be proactive, not reactive. IT operations cannot consider the
introduction of business services as a series of discrete events and constantly play catchup with the technology. The skills, processes, and work habits must constantly progress in anticipation of the future business needs and the corresponding technologies.

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· IT operations needs the right tools to be efficient. IT operations needs first to assess where
it stands in terms of business service complexity and where the business evolution is driving business services. Tools must be selected according to where they stand on the complexity scale, and be extensible to serve the next generation of business services. At the level where many enterprises are today, the tool set must have broad domain monitoring capabilities that can be abstracted to focus on multitier services and transactions.

· The tools must provide the right information. In complex tightly coupled environments
such as transactional services, an important part of the tool is the ability to understand the dynamic context of each business service transaction and the ability to model which infrastructure components are used in delivering the service to the end user. These models are the basis needed for an accurate analysis of performance issues.

· The right information must be available to the right people. Managing performance
is also teamwork. Multiple constituencies intervene at the different stages of incident and problem management. Each of these participants must find the right information to perform their tasks. Customized reporting according to the roles played in the management process is what makes service assurance an effective solution. IT operations managing complex business services should take the following steps:

· understand the complexity level of their business services. This should be assessed in
a business dimension and in an IT operation dimension, but with an eye to what’s coming down the pike.

· Inventory the monitoring products installed in their operation. Conduct a thorough
assessment of the value and potential for integration of each of these products, sorting what should be replaced and what should be kept.

· conduct an analysis of the solutions available on the market. Create a gap analysis
between installed solutions versus a comprehensive performance management solution; consider vendors that are able to complement what needs to be kept and integrated in a future solution adapted to their requirements.

· conduct an economic analysis. This analysis should take into consideration the efficiency
of the end result — for example, how many brownouts and downtimes could have been avoided with the right solution — and privilege these long-term benefits over short-term savings in license costs.

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SuPPLeMeNTAL MATeRIAL companies Interviewed For This Document AppDynamics ASG Software Solutions Aternity BlueStripe BMC Software CA Technologies Compuware Correlsense dynaTrace Heroix HP Software & Solutions IBM Tivoli INETCO eNDNOTeS
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Knoa Nastel Technologies NetIQ OPNET OpTier Oracle Precise Progress Software Quest Software ServicePilot SL Corporation Visual Network Systems

Charles Perrow, Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies, Princeton University Press, 1999. Articles and work on high reliability by Todd LaPorte can be found at the University of California, Berkeley Charles and Louise Travers Department of Political Science. Visit the Web site at http://polisci.berkeley.edu/ faculty/person_detail.php?person=241. There are many complaints about internal IT organizations that are not agile enough or not aligned with the business that they should serve. We believe that these are not the actual issues, but the symptoms of the actual issue. A number of indicators show that, in fact, many IT organizations are close to a saturation point where, like any system, a small increase in workload leads to a disproportionate increase in response time. See the June 30, 2010, “The Writing On IT’s Complexity Wall” report. As of May 31, 2010, more recent data is available in the financial report “Oracle Reports Q4 GAAP EPS of $0.46, Non-GAAP EPS $0.60”; see page 8. Source: Oracle (http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/investorrelations/financials/q4fy10-152576.pdf).

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September 9, 2010 | Updated: September 22, 2010

Making leaders Successful Every day
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Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forwardthinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 19 key roles at major companies providing proprietary research, customer insight, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 27 years, Forrester has been making IT, marketing, and technology industry leaders successful every day. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.

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