Just how important is the monitoring of IT infrastructure, as it seems to always grow in complexity? And more specifically, is it worth it just leaving it up to free tools?
A recent survey by Redmond Magazine – of 300 IT management pros who manage networks in organizations with more than 100 employees – gives some insight on how they monitor IT infrastructure.
Some 63 percent responded that they purchase monitoring tools that are installed on site, according to the survey results. On the other hand, 15 percent said they use freeware. And a very close 14 percent said they don’t use any monitoring tools beyond what’s built into the device. Only 8 percent said they use Software as a Service monitoring tools.
Free, therefore, may not impact the spending plan, and may look good to spending-sensitive higher-ups in a company, but it’s far from the ideal solution.
Also, it was shown that many of those taking part in the survey said price was “very important” to them when investing in an IT monitoring solution. In fact, 65 percent said it was “very important” and agreed they had “a limited budget for IT monitoring.”
On the other hand, 31 percent said price was “somewhat important” and that they will “trade off functionality for price.” And just 4 percent responded “not important.” They explain “as long as it meets our needs, price is a non-issue.”
Clearly, Cisco (News - Alert) is the brand they use for wireless devices. Some 85 percent of respondents said they use monitoring wireless devices from the company.
The survey was sponsored by Ipswitch (News - Alert) Network Management Division, and its president weighed in with some comments on the survey.
"Network and IT professionals are dealing with a network infrastructure that they cannot fully control or contain as it continuously increases in sophistication, especially with the growth of wireless, BYOD and whatever is next on the horizon," Ennio Carboni, president and general manager at the Network Management Division of Ipswitch, said in a statement. "IT pros continuously tell us that value-based network monitoring solutions are what they seek. They're not interested in trusting free tools to do all the work because it's simply becoming too complicated to manage. At the same time, they don't find the need to pay a big IT vendor a lot of money in order to get what they need."
In addition, the complexity of the network was a major priority in IT monitoring. Some 32 percent of those taking the survey said consolidating network monitoring tools into a single view was “a top priority.” Also, 26 percent said that “more sophisticated management of important applications” was the top priority. Some 25 percent responded “better control over bandwidth” was the top priority. And 16 percent said the top priority was “better management of wireless networks.” Yet, 40 percent said all three factors were considered priorities.
The responses help vendors in the monitoring sector determine price points for their products, as well as see the priority IT pros give to the monitoring tools.
As Carboni points out, too, with the growth of wireless and bring your own devices being seen increasingly at workplaces – network infrastructure is getting more complex. The IT pros seek, like many consumers, true value. Now it’s up to providers to offer it.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson