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Q&A: Interview with AppEnsure Talking About Application Performance in Cloud and Virtualized Environments

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Source: VMblog

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.