The Evolution of Monitoring: From Hardware to the Cloud and IoT

By Andrew Timms, Sales Director, APAC at Paessler AG

Andrew Timms, Sales Director, APAC at Paessler AG

In recent years businesses have encountered a radical shift in the way applications are delivered within enterprise environments.

With the rise of virtualization and the emergence of the cloud, businesses increasingly find themselves having to cater to an array of connected ‘things’. IT departments have adjusted by providing access to software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions, ensuring seamless functioning of devices and cloud-based applications, while monitoring networks along the way. As mobility and the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow they will need a similar approach, but on a much larger scale.

Cloud and the Network

It goes without saying that enterprise cloud adoption rates are still rising. This is easy to understand given cloud’s many benefits, such as resource sharing and relatively low capital expenditure. Of course, the IT administrator will want to ensure they achieve an acceptable return on investment (ROI). However, a question that many IT administrators and businesses often fail to consider is - how can cloud be monitored and how can we measure its ROI?

To ensure users have constant access to remote business applications, the performance of the cloud connection must be monitored on every level. A network monitoring solution with a central system can notify the IT department of disruptions both on-location and in the private cloud, ensuring system uptime and smooth operations.

SDN and the Network

Driven by the increasing need to transition from a legacy platform to the cloud, businesses are beginning to realise the benefits of software-defined networking (SDN).

Network monitoring can be a vital tool in giving enterprises information about expanded networks that will help them make intelligent decisions

As organizations face increasing pressures to be more efficient and agile, the demand has also given rise to the shift towards software-based network functionality. According to IDC, the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) SDN market will surpass the $1 billion mark by 2018.

SDN allows systems to be scaled up or down very quickly via programming, delivering a speedy response to rapidly changing business demands. So how can businesses ensure that their software-defined networks are high performing?

While the control plane can potentially compensate for failure of single devices, overall network performance is still influenced by failures and disturbances.

Proactive and complete monitoring of the data plane is essential. If SDN providers can deliver standards to calculate the performance data of the control plane, conventional monitoring software providers can then provide an overview of the entire IT infrastructure. Once comprehensive monitoring solutions are established within networks, businesses will be better equipped to effectively shift to SDN.

Mobility and the Network

It’s no surprise that enterprise mobility continues to gain momentum. With the promise of business agility and higher productivity, businesses are keen to capitalize on the opportunities provided by ‘always on’ working. The desire to be increasingly mobile means organizations are grappling with significantly higher network traffic.

Network monitoring can be a vital tool in giving enterprises information about expanded networks that will help them make intelligent decisions. Having a comprehensive view of the network provides an in-depth understanding of how the infrastructure and devices are behaving.

Organizations can also introduce bandwidth monitoring to trace usage trends and errors. By understanding where and when bottlenecks are happening, organizations can use the data to better manage and reduce costs by buying bandwidth and hardware according to actual load.

Monitoring of Things and the Network

With around 6.4 billion connected devices in use today, businesses have to adapt to the new challenges of a mobile, digitized world. Effective network monitoring tools, backed by robust process, analysis and responses are vital if businesses take full advantage of the leaps in technology and solutions. Reliability of new hardware and its smooth integration will be crucial. If IT administrators have easy-to-use network monitoring tools at their disposal, they will have the required support to navigate these changes and be able to identify and resolve network issues before they escalate, saving time, money, and delivering business success.

Founded in 1997, Paessler AG provides IT and network administrators with comprehensive network monitoring tools.