Test Management Featured Article

Cloud services, mobility, advanced unified communications – these are the trends that are driving technology and bringing about the evolution of the next-generation workplace. And today’s blazing fast network speeds should be able to handle this ever-evolving influx of new applications and services. However, there is always room for greater efficiencies and cost savings, and keeping a close eye on bandwidth usage can only lead to improved levels of performance.

So how can companies get a handle on bandwidth usage with a revolving group of apps, services, users and devices that is constantly fluctuating relative to the amount and frequency of bandwidth used?

The global network management market was worth roughly $4.21 billion last year, and is set to hit $6.35 billion by 2018. North America is leading the way in market size and the testing market is massive, encompassing a broad range of tools and services. According to MarketsandMarkets, network management comprises performance monitoring and management, IP address management, traffic and device management, configuration management and security management.

The application performance management (APM (News - Alert)) segment and its associated testing systems is the segment most beneficial to IT departments and service providers seeking to get a handle on bandwidth usage. "IDC (News - Alert) estimates the worldwide application performance management software market will top $2.2 billion in 2012 and will total more than $3.5 billion by 2016,” said Mary Johnston Turner, research vice president, enterprise systems management software, IDC. “We estimate the five-year CAGR from 2011 to 2016 will be 12.7 percent.”

Obviously, if organizations want to make the most of their bandwidth to keep systems functioning optimally while operating efficiently and cost effectively, they need to accurately access their network and application needs. Not only do they need to assess their current needs, but they must anticipate their needs over the next few years based on mobility trends, bring your own device (BYOD) and the generally fluctuating nature of unified communications and its associated bandwidth usage. Some applications will be higher priority than others of course and that will need to be accounted for in setting up bandwidth management and monitoring. And an organization will need to anticipate its own general growth trajectory to make sure the needs of new employees, lines of business and their associated applications and services are well accommodated.

Ultimately, making sure bandwidth, network, and application performance are carefully tested and managed is absolutely crucial to their overall operations. And by staying on top of technology advances and trends and getting an idea of anticipated bandwidth requirements, organizations can avoid lag and performance issues and ensure all applications and services are running at optimum performance.