Performance management in virtualized environments is the topic of Gartner analyst Cameron Haight‘s post, Server Virtualization Performance. Haight notes that during a Gartner client gathering, he conducted an informal poll to see what part of the virtual server infrastructure caused clients the most performance problems. While individual VMs came out on top at 42%, Haight found that the underlying issue was very likely an application problem.

Read more on “It’s Not My VM—It’s the Application”: It’s Really Virtual Packet Loss…

Computerworld UK reporter Leo King recently highlighted a global survey by PAC Consulting that found that 43 percent of SAP customers are dissatisfied with the system’s response times across all components. What’s more, 96 percent of respondents said they feared financial risk if their SAP system experienced performance problems.

Read more on Troubleshooting SAP with Application Performance Management (APM)…

APM vendors need to focus on monitoring storage I/O latency as part of end-to-end transaction analysis

There is a lot of conflicting information about what constitutes a great application performance management (APM) solution. The reality is that the right solution depends on your needs. And it also depends on where you can get the most bang for your buck. In a Gartner research note titled APM Technologies Must Monitor Storage I/O Latency, Will Cappelli makes a compelling case for why APM vendors must pay attention to storage I/O latency as part of end-to-end transaction analysis.

Read more on Monitoring Storage I/O Latency with Application Performance Management Solutions…

In a recent Network World article, titled Top 5 Network Management Investments, Ann Bednarz makes a compelling case for how companies ought to prioritize their network performance management investments.

In the article, industry analyst Jim Frey of EMA points out that, “network managers in the past didn’t have to worry about rate of change. It’s a much more dynamic environment.” This is especially true in today’s extended network environment, where IT manages an increasing number of geographically distributed applications and infrastructure with so many moving parts that something is nearly always broken or degraded. The widespread adoption of new technologies, such as server virtualization, network attached storage, and cloud computing provide greater flexibility, but new layers of management and complexity are added as well.

Read more on Getting the Most Out of Your Network Management Investment…

With New Year come new resolutions, and an opportunity to take stock, examine your organization’s needs and explore new solutions.

Network World came out with an article called the “5 must-have IT Management technologies for 2010” that looks at some new solution categories that will help manage the ever increasing complexity in IT. Topping the list, coming at number one is IT Service Assurance, which Network World describes as getting “visibility into network traffic flows as well as application performance across multiple components supporting IT services. From advanced discovery technology to traffic flow analysis to transaction monitoring, IT departments need to see the entire path of a service — even as it exits in the corporate network and travels through external cloud environments”.

Read more on What Matters Most in 2010…