Clearing the air around app management

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DENNIS DROGSETH ON NETWORK/SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
08/22/05
Today's focus: Clearing the air around app management

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* A look at the uptick in mixing application and network
  management
* Links related to Network/Systems Management
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Clearing the air around app management

By Dennis Drogseth

There is so much going on in the industry directed at
instrumenting, monitoring and managing networks to maximize
application delivery that I thought I'd use this column to clear
the air and try to frame what's really happening as I see it.

This mixing of application and network management technologies
is not new. Enterprise Management Associates has been actively
researching this phenomenon since 2000, and even then it was
well underway within the broader industry. What is new today is
an upswing in attention, pace, options and complexity. This last
is the rub - what's needed in the end is simplicity. But
progress, in this market at least, tends to evolve through
disruptive complexities that lead to a new "status quo" with a
more recognizable shape, before the wind blows all over again
and the ship sails for another port.

So here is my list of things to look out for. I of course
welcome your input. What would you add? What would you delete?

* Are network device vendors finally becoming strategic
  management providers? The answer to this question is a qualified
  yes, given recent actions taken by Juniper and Cisco, in
  particular. The question really seems to be not "will network
  device vendors establish a more strategic systems presence
  through investments in the management of application service
  delivery?" It is "How will they do this, what shape will it
  take, and when?" One way or the other, it is likely to change
  the management marketplace in ways that have never occurred in
  the past.

* As applications become more distributed, and as
  service-oriented architecture and Web services become
  increasingly pervasive, will this affect network management? The
  short answer is yes. A slightly longer answer: Yes, profoundly,
  but over time. To what degree network management and network
  infrastructure becomes an intelligent purveyor of application-
  and even transaction-specific services (as per Web services) is
  clearly something to watch in the coming months and years.

* Are new areas of innovation opening up to address these
  challenges? Once again the answer is yes. Application flow
  management is one of the most important. This "bloodstream" vs.
  "device-centric" approach can span potentially all seven layers
  and then some. Application flow in its most eclectic form -
  including protocol and packet analysis, as well as NetFlow,
  sFlow and other options - is becoming a sprawling arena of
  innovation across a whole host of disciplines, from performance,
  to QoS and application throughput, to security and chargeback.

* Do the trends towards building a configuration management
  database (CMDB) and managing application performance over the
  network converge, or are they two parallel paths? Well, even
  though I'm not running for political office, here I'd have to
  say the answer is "both." CMDB trends will affect how vendors
  share and instrument data collection, how they'll model
  information and how information will be exchanged across
  management applications and brands in this market and others.

* Where is the innovation coming from - application vendors
  looking at the network or network vendors looking at the app?
  Once again the answer is "both." And I can say this in all
  honesty. But right now the weight of the innovation in my humble
  opinion is coming from network management vendors moving up the
  stack.

* What about VPNs? VPNs are becoming more relevant to
  provisioning applications, but are still thorny for
  implementation. Clearly, though, VPN implementations in all the
  standard and non-standard varieties need to be included in this
  jigsaw puzzle.

* Will application management and delivery services take off as
  a result of all this complexity? You bet. But the services that
  are most likely to succeed the most will not simply be
  body-centric, but also IP-centric in both definitions of the
  term (Internet Protocol and "intellectual property").

* What about VoIP? Well, what about it? Clearly it's a component
  in this broader matrix of "things to watch," in spite of the
  fact that it's an application service that many people haven't
  figured out is really an application yet. Look for the impact of
  VoIP on two fronts - challenging network performance and
  application service quality across the full portfolio, and
  challenging IT and communications operations to actually work
  together.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Google goes berserk
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm5287>

2. Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm5286>

3. Windows worm beginning to spread
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm5503>

4. IT staff shortage looming
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm5289>

5. Test: CipherTrust tops encryption field
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm5288>

Today's most-forwarded story:

Cisco to juice 6500 switch
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnsm5290>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Dennis Drogseth

Dennis Drogseth is a vice president with Enterprise Management
Associates <http://www.enterprisemanagement.com/>, a leading
analyst, market research and IT consulting firm based in
Boulder, Colorado, focusing exclusively on all aspects of
enterprise management. Dennis has extensive experience in
service level management and network management platforms and
products. He is actively researching trends in management
software and changing IT roles internationally. His 22-plus
years of experience in high-tech includes positions at IBM and
Cabletron. He is widely quoted in the press and is a speaker at
many industry events. He can be reached via e-mail
<mailto:drogseth@enterprisemanagement.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Nortel

Introducing the Nortel Applications Center. An open, multimedia
applications suite created to streamline your applications
environment and transform your business communications.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110616
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Network/Systems Management newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/nsm/index.html

Management Research Center:
http://www.networkworld.com/topics/management.html
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