AppEnsure,
a provider of application management (APM) solutions for cloud and
virtualized environments, recently announced an update for its application
performance monitoring and management solution. To find out more, I spoke with Colin Macnab, CEO of AppEnsure.
VMblog: To kick things off, can you tell us about AppEnsure and your most recent
announcement?
Colin Macnab: Simply put, AppEnsure offers application management solutions
for cloud and virtualized environments. We are the first and only solution that
measures response time and throughput for all applications automatically, which
includes both custom developed and purchased applications, in all locations,
including physical, virtualized, public and private clouds. Most recently, we
announced the general availability of our application performance monitoring and
management solution.
VMblog: And what problem does AppEnsure address within the
market?
Macnab: As the number of applications within cloud and virtual
environments continues to grow, the root cause of performance issues has become
difficult to pinpoint, leading to downtime and loss of revenue. This is due to
limited operational visibility and ineffective legacy IT tools that look at
point solutions rather than the full infrastructure. Furthermore, these mission
critical applications are a combination of custom and purchased applications,
leaving a gap in the marketplace for a solution that addresses all types of
applications. Our goal is to stop the "death by dashboard" IT is currently
facing when dealing with locating the root cause in application
issues.
VMblog: What are some key features of
AppEnsure?
Macnab: The App Ops-focused solution gives fast time to resolution by
delivering root cause analysis with automated application visibility, therefore
presenting clear instructions for faster resolution of issues. Some key features
include:
- Quick
discovery of applications - AppEnsure works with both custom and
off-the-shelf applications, which are automatically discovered by name and
topology, keeping them updated even in dynamic hybrid
environments.
- Provides
access to real-time, correlated, root cause analysis - This provides
actionable, real-time data when the response time and throughput of an
application declines. IT is able to pinpoint an issue without needing to
allocate additional resources to understand the problem.
- Application
agnostic - AppEnsure works with all types of applications, written to both
Windows and Linux, regardless of whether they are deployed on physical, virtual
or cloud infrastructures.
VMblog: Could you describe for us how AppEnsure is different from other
solutions on the market?
Macnab: AppEnsure provides a unified application management solution,
which is truly unique to the market. Other application management tools provide
only a section of the network traffic analysis required to pinpoint a problem.
AppEnsure provides insight into the network right from the application layer and
onto the data link, giving complete visibility to App Ops. Similarly, it also
provides storage traffic analysis from the application layer right through the
IP to the Ethernet. Most of the application management tools on the market don't
provide storage traffic analysis. AppEnsure is easy to try and use, providing
clear remedial actions in just three clicks.
VMblog: To which verticals would this solution be most beneficial?
Macnab: We think AppEnsure will be most beneficial to professional
services, banks, service providers and VARs/SIs. These organizations have high
volumes and high value transactions, which makes them a great fit for our
solution. There is no logical limit to the number of servers AppEnsure can
manage - initially we are deploying to enterprises with between 50 to 500
servers and 500 to 5000 end users. AppEnsure also works for organizations with
hybrid deployments of applications across multiple environments.
VMblog: So, an organization is ready to use AppEnsure, how much
time will it take them to get set up?
Macnab: When creating AppEnsure, it was important for us to build
a product that was easy to try and use. AppEnsure agents take only minutes to
install, providing value instantly. Since applications are automatically
discovered by name and the topology is automatically discovered and kept up to
date, there is absolutely no configuration required by operations.
VMblog: Ok, I have to ask. What comes next for AppEnsure?
Macnab: We are thrilled to be announcing the general availability
of AppEnsure and will continue focusing on building a product that is
groundbreaking, needed by organizations and easy to use. As we work with more
customers, we will gain further insight into application issues and continue to
build the right tools to address them. As we are the first such company to
deliver true demand load profiling, we will soon be able to help enterprises
scale their environments accurately and deal with real elasticity planning.
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Thanks again to Colin Macnab, CEO of AppEnsure, for speaking with VMblog and answering these questions.