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Virtualization, cloud services make a new network/app management world

laptops surrounding a world globe

In my last post, I pointed out that today’s speedy, low-cost connectivity is impacting network and application management. This time I’ll concentrate on the other significant trend changing network and application management: Virtualization and cloud services.

Today’s datacenter environments are not only quickly becoming hyper-connected, most have also undergone at least some degree of virtualization and use of cloud services. The combination results in new kinds of business applications and, ultimately, a new kind of network infrastructure that exhibits…

  • Greater traffic volume, notably storage traffic
  • A shift in traffic flows from top-down/bottom-up to peer-to-peer, server-to-server, and virtual machine-to-virtual machine (now as much as 80% by some estimates)
  • Increasing amounts of synchronization and replication data across the network
  • A flatter network hierarchy

No aspect of network and application management has escaped the effects of virtualization and cloud services, as a study conducted in 2011 by Enterprise Management Associates attests:

 IMPACT OF SERVER VIRTUALIZATION AND CLOUD SERVICES ON NETWORK MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AREAS:
graph showing impact of cloud services vs virtualization on monitoring and management.

Do bad things happen to your network or apps?
The question, then, is what can you do about it at precisely the time when network and application performance has never mattered more to the success of your business? This question becomes downright critical if your network or applications suffer from sluggish performance or regular bouts of unavailability.

If bad things never happen to your network or apps and you have a sizable, reliable datacenter staff with plenty of experience in the practice areas shown in the chart above — as well as deep capability in virtualization, cloud computing, security, local area networks, databases, data storage, and application development — stop reading now and find a TV show to watch.

Otherwise, you may benefit from the advice of a services provider who can help you remove unnecessary risk and optimize your existing data, voice, Internet, cloud, virtualization, wireless, and
cable infrastructure. Read more about how Quest’s cloud computing solutions can remove unnecessary risk and improve business.

Getting your network and apps ready
It’s a process that starts with testing — of your connectivity, protocols, bandwidth, and the overall performance of your network. This produces real data showing you what’s going on and why. The process moves on to a series of specific recommendations, including what you need to know about trade-offs.

Thanks to today’s connectivity, you can implement an affordable, seamless program of proactive, scalable on-site or remote monitoring and management services provided from anonymous and secure 24/7 Service Delivery Centers.

And because these services — including application monitoring, network monitoring, trending and capacity planning, fault prevention, service level management, on-site or remote network health monitoring, and custom reporting — are customized to meet your virtualization and cloud performance requirements, your network and apps will be 2013-ready.

Meet the Author
Tim Burke is the President and CEO of Quest. He has been at the helm for over 30 years.
Contact Quest Today  ˄
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