Here's Who Made Gartner's 2016 Magic Quadrant For Network Performance Monitoring And Diagnostics

NPMD Part Of Fast-Growing Network Management Space

As organizations face an increasingly complex technology and services landscape, network performance monitoring and diagnostics (NPMD) solutions play a key role in aiding businesses with network visibility, detection of performance issues and root cause analysis.

The market has seen a significant reshuffling over the past few years through mergers and acquisitions -- such as InfoVista's merging with Ipanema, and NetScout's acquisition of Fluke Networks. In addition, private equity firm Thoma Bravo has emerged as a key player in the market, with stakes in vendors like Riverbed, InfoVista and SolarWinds. Research firm Gartner said vendors are continuing to innovate in 2016 with operational analytics, integrated graphical user interfaces (GUIs) and more flexible deployments.

A total of 15 vendors made this year's Gartner Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics, including tech giants like Cisco and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, along with players such as Viavi Solutions and CA Technologies.

NPMD Research Methodology

Gartner evaluated network performance monitoring and diagnostics vendors providing the ability to monitor, diagnose and generate alters for network endpoints and components, as well as for end-to-end network services delivery. To make the quadrant, vendors need to offer support for analysis of real-time performance, historical performance and predictive behaviors, while also leveraging data sources such as network device information.

The Magic Quadrant ranks vendors on their ability to execute and completeness of vision. Gartner places vendors into four categories: Niche Players (low on vision and execution), Visionaries (good vision but low execution), Challengers (good execution but low vision) and Leaders (excelling in both vision and execution).

NetScout Systems: Leader

NPMD Annual Revenue For NetScout: $301 million to $500 million

NetScout has the largest market share in the NPMD space, with customers in the enterprise, service provider and public sector industry verticals. The Westford, Mass.-based vendor's 2015 acquisition of Danaher's communication business for $2.3 billion sent shockwaves through the market, bringing together Arbor Networks, for security monitoring; Fluke Networks, a former NPMD player; Tektronix Communications, for testing and measurement; and VSS Monitoring, for network packet brokers.

NetScout is ranked No. 1 in vision on the quadrant and amid the middle of the list in execution.

NetScout

Strengths: NetScout's latest nGeniusOne NPMD platform, Version 5.4, has received positive feedback from customers, and the vendor has a "large and loyal customer base," said Gartner. Fluke Networks' strong presence in the Europe-Middle East-Africa and Asia-Pacific markets fits well alongside NetScout's extensive North American coverage.

Weaknesses: Gartner said the company's acquisition of Danaher's communication business has resulted in overlapping product lines that may result in execution challenges. NetScout has also been described as being a "premium-priced" solution by customers, according to Gartner.

Riverbed Technology: Leader

NPMD Annual Revenue For Riverbed: $151 million to $300 million

San Francisco-based Riverbed has built a broad set of performance monitoring capabilities over the years through a healthy dose of acquisitions including Mazu Networks, Cace Technologies and Opnet Technologies, which are now all branded as its SteelCentral products. Earlier this year, Riverbed also acquired software-defined networking specialist Ocedo in a move to help drive net new services for channel partners.

Its SteelCentral suite includes several appliance lines and software components that support packet inspection, storage and advanced analysis of collected data, according to Gartner. Riverbed is ranked No. 3 on the quadrant for vision and fell in the middle of the ranks in execution.

Riverbed Technology

Strengths: Gartner said the vendor's "technical breadth and depth" are cited as key differentiators in competitive evaluations. Its SteelCentral Portal offers a consolidated application and network dashboard view of several interrelated and dependent resources.

Weaknesses: Riverbed's StreelCentral NPM (network performance management) product has seen "limited innovation" in 2015, said Gartner. The vendor also underwent numerous executive changes and internal reorganization over the past 12 months, "creating some disruption," said Gartner.

Viavi Solutions: Leader

NPMD Annual Revenue For Viavi: $51 million to $150 million

The recently formed Milpitas, Calif.-based vendor provides software and hardware platforms to deliver end-to-end network test and visibility solutions across physical, virtual and hybrid networks. The vendor is a spinout of JDS Uniphase Corp.

The vendor's Observer performance management platform is a "technically comprehensive" packet-based NPMD tool, said Gartner. In October, Viavi unveiled a new global channel Partner Program with incentives and tools designed to expand its channel presence in the enterprise and service provider spaces. Viavi is ranked No. 3 in execution (tied with CA Technologies) and No. 4 in vision on the quadrant.

Viavi

Strengths: Viavi has enhanced its deployment options with the delivery of an SSD-based portable model of GigaStor that supports line rate 10-GB packet capture and storage, as well as a software edition providing all core functionality of the regular hardware appliance, according to Gartner.

Weaknesses: Viavi's primary focus is the service provider vertical, which is not aligned with Observer's core enterprise user base, said Gartner. Sergio Bea, vice president of Worldwide Channels for Viavi, recently told CRN that the company is now focused on winning more share in the enterprise space through its channel. "We want to take some market share in the enterprise sector, and the way you do that is through solutions providers," said Bea.

Cisco: Challenger

NPMD Annual Revenue For Cisco: $51 million to $150 million

The San Jose, Calif.-based network leader has broadened its networking offerings to include unified communications, unified computing, management software and Software-as-a-Service capabilities for collaboration.

Cisco's NPMD offerings include Cisco Prime Infrastructure for simple network management protocol (SNMP) and flow monitoring, configuration management, and provisioning of Cisco network devices. Additionally, the vendor's Prime Network Analysis Module (NAM) is an appliance-based solution for packet analysis, said Gartner. Cisco Prime Collaboration provides monitoring, configuration management and provisioning of Cisco's unified communications solutions.

Cisco is ranked No. 5 in execution and in the middle of the pack in vision. The company was teetering between "Challenger" and "Leader" on the quadrant.

Cisco

Strengths: The network leader is in a unique position to support its massive networking install base by offering "very deep support" for Cisco visibility technologies, said Gartner. Cisco has differentiation in the NPMD space because of its strong support of wireless LAN infrastructure and performance monitoring along with its data center technology.

Weaknesses: Cisco Prime Infrastructure is used mostly as a point solution because of limited support for non-Cisco environments, which often requires customers to purchase additional management tools. The company's analytics capabilities still remain limited, according to Gartner.

SolarWinds (Silver Lake Partners): Challenger

NPMD Annual Revenue For SolarWinds: $150 million to $300 million

SolarWinds was acquired by Silver Lake Partners and private equity firm Thoma Bravo in February in a $4.5 billion deal. The company's NPMD solution consists of SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. The solution covers monitoring of network elements for fault, availability, performance, flow analysis and packet analysis in a single software offering, according to Gartner.

SolarWinds was ranked No. 1 in execution, far above any other competitor, but fell on the bottom half of the list in vision.

SolarWinds

Strengths: The vendor has built up a large user base because of its low-cost entry point and strong brand and marketing presence. SolarWinds provides an easy-to-use interface with quick value out of the box, making it often the first choice of small to midsize business customers, according to Gartner.

Weaknesses: Gartner said customers site weaknesses in the company's ability to handle large environments. SolarWinds also has no outside sales team and offers no professional services.

SevOne: Challenger

NPMD Annual Revenue For SevOne: $51 million to $150 million

Wilmington, Del.-based SevOne is maintaining rapid growth and recently closed a $50 million Series C funding round, according to Gartner. Its NPMD solution consists of the SevOne Performance Appliance Solution, Dedicated NetFlow Collector, Performance Log Appliance and Application Performance Appliance. The company also recently added support for AWS, Microsoft Azure and VMware vCenter.

SevOne ranks in the middle of the list for both execution and vision.

SevOne

Strengths: Gartner said SevOne has developed capabilities in the growing Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring space with the "scalability and granularity" required to monitor IoT environments. The company also leverages its rapid flow analysis engine and horizontal scaling architecture to offer very high flow processing and reporting on a single appliance, according to Gartner.

Weaknesses: The company continues to have limited unified communication and voice-over IP support, compared with vendors who offer packet-based performance monitoring. SevOne's focus on large enterprises and communications service providers may limit its ability to serve a broader market, Gartner said.

CA Technologies: Challenger

NPMD Annual Revenue For CA Technologies: $151 million to $300 million

New York-based CA Technologies has an extensive history and product set in the NPMD space. Its CA Unified Infrastructure Management solution is complemented by other offerings, including network flow analysis, unified communications monitoring and application delivery analysis, according to Gartner.

CA Technologies is ranked No. 3 (tied with Viavi) in execution and in the middle of the list in vision.

CA Technologies

Strengths: CA Technologies' broad portfolio includes many functional areas, Gartner said, offering customers products coupled with internal services capability to implement and maintain the solutions.

Weaknesses: Gartner said customers report "dissatisfaction" with the high cost of maintenance and high price required for implementation services. Packet analysis capability from its Application Delivery Analysis has yet to be brought into standard monitoring and troubleshooting workflows, according to Gartner.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Visionary

NPMD Annual Revenue For HPE: $151 million to $300 million

HPE, split off from HP Inc. on Nov. 1, was one of the first vendors to offer enterprise network monitoring tools and has a substantial portfolio and customer base. Palo Alto, Calif.-based HPE's NPMD solution consists of its Network Node Manager i (NNMi) and HPE Real User Monitor (RUM) for deep packet inspection, and is strong in its end-to-end, discovery-and-topology-based correlation, said Gartner.

The company is ranked No. 5 in vision and in the middle of the bunch for execution.

HPE

Strengths: Gartner said HPE's product road map is "compelling," including monitoring of converged infrastructure, software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) frameworks. HPE offers a broad portfolio of complementary availability and performance monitoring solutions, with integration of products like its HP Network Automation.

Weaknesses: Customers "continue to express concern" over HPE's direction and vision in the NPMD space, said Gartner. Its product release cycle is slow, taking years between major releases of NNMi and RUM.

Corvil: Visionary

NPMD Annual Revenue For Corvil: $21 million and $50 million

In 2014, Dublin-based Corvil started a company and product transition with the release of its streaming analytics platform Giga. A focus on providing better application visibility with new decoders and the support of time-stamped application events is helping the company appeal to enterprises beyond its core financial industry customer base, said Gartner.

Corvil is ranked No. 2 in vision, only slightly behind NetScout on the quadrant, but falls among the lower players in execution.

Corvil

Strengths: In 2015, the company's sales team tripled in size while research and development doubled, according to Gartner. Corvil's licensing model is causing "pricing disruption" in the market, with a separation of software pricing from the underlying hardware, Gartner said.

Weaknesses: Brand recognition remains low, which limits lead-generation opportunities. Corvil's user interface is geared to the network expert, which limits the speed of adoption and appeals to "those less technically proficient," said Gartner.

InfoVista: Niche Player

NPMD Annual Revenue For InfoVista: $51 million to $150 million

Les Ulis, France-based InfoVista is focused on being a large enterprise NPMD provider, owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. The company's offerings span NPMD -- from wireless network design and planning to mobile network optimization and configuration assurance.

The company acquired Ipanema Technologies last year to further its application insight capabilities, specifically in terms of Voice over IP and unified communications platforms. It also recently expanded its OEM relationship with Shenzhen, China-based network giant Huawei, which resulted in local sales resources in China.

InfoVista, teetering on the line between "Niche Player" and "Visionary" on the quadrant, is ranked in the middle of the list on vision and near the bottom in execution.

InfoVista

Strengths: InfoVista's NPMD products and strategy align with its focus on delivering increased scale to meet demands of the carrier networks and large enterprises. The extensibility of its solution allows for sophisticated use cases that other vendors cannot meet, Gartner said.

Weaknesses: Customers report "higher than average" implementation and maintenance costs, according to Gartner. InfoVista also has a heavy reliance on European and Asia/Pacific carriers, which make up the majority of its installed base.

Paessler: Niche Player

NPMD Annual Revenue For Paessler: $21 million to $50 million

Paessler is focused on providing network monitoring software through its unified offering PRTG Network Monitor. The solution covers monitoring of network elements for fault, flow analysis and packet sniffing with a single solution. Paessler targets management service providers and cloud-based SaaS providers alongside its core enterprise install base.

The Nuremberg, Germany-based vendor is ranked in the middle of the list for both vision and execution.

Paessler

Strengths: Paessler's rapid development stream means that new and updated sensors are released frequently -- on a quarterly basis. The company has an "easily accessible" freeware option to reduce the barriers to adoption, Gartner said.

Weaknesses: The company's packet sniffer module has limited capabilities, including an inability to save packet data to disk, as well as fewer supported application types and protocols compared with its competitors' products, according to Gartner.

Automic: Niche Player

NPMD Annual Revenue For Automic: $5 million to $10 million

Automic is focused on workload automation, application release automation and automated service orchestration. The company acquired Orsyp in 2014 in order to build a dedicated business unit focused on performance around its Sysload and Streamcore product lines. Streamcore couples network performance monitoring capabilities with WAN optimization, while Sysload specializes in system performance, endpoint monitoring and workload capacity planning.

Automic is ranked among the bottom players of the group in both execution and vision.

Automic

Strengths: The company has a competitive advantage with its monitoring integrated with WAN optimization and automation, Gartner said. Automic also maintains strategic partnerships with IBM, Microsoft and BT.

Weaknesses: Gartner said Automic's performance business is not growing, which could impact resources devoted to NPMD R&D, sales and support. Customers cite dissatisfaction with the company's cost of maintenance and implementation compared with those of its competitors, according to Gartner.

Flowmon Networks: Niche Player

NPMD Annual Revenue For Flowmon Networks: $5 million to $10 million

Flowmon Networks, formerly Invea-Tech, specializes in scalable flow-based monitoring, with the Brno, Czech Republic-based company growing 100 percent in 2015 because of sales of its NPMD and network behavior analysis products, Gartner said.

Its Flowmon Traffic Recorder provides full-packet capture, and Flowmon APM delivers end-user experience insight and addresses application performance monitoring use cases, according to Gartner. The company released in 2015 its Flowmon DDoS Defender module to detect and mitigate volumetric attacks. The company is ranked last on the quadrant in vision, and with others at the bottom of the list for execution.

Flowmon Networks

Strengths: Flowmon NPMP solution is "highly scalable" with the ability to support 100-GE environments and 250,000 flows per second, said Gartner. The company focus on security-related incidents enables it to provide customers with greater understanding of how attacks affect network performance, which Gartner said is a differentiation.

Weaknesses: The size and profile of the company are low from a marketing perspective. Although the solution is designed to support both NPMD and security use cases, it's not optimized for either use case, said Gartner.

Genie Networks: Niche Player

NPMD Annual Revenue For Genie Networks: $11 million to $20 million

Taipai, Taiwan-based Genie Networks' strategy is to provide scalable, yet competitively priced solutions to the communication service provider (CSP) industry. The company's GenieATM 6300 offering builds upon Genie's traditional Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) capabilities to incorporate deep packet inspection and flow analysis.

Genie is ranked amid the bottom players in both vision and execution.

Genie Networks

Strengths: The company opened a new Singapore office in September to further strengthen its focus in the South East Asia region, Gartner said. It also has new enhancements including a virtual machine software deployment option.

Weaknesses: Genie's tight CSP and Asia/Pacific prioritization "may compromise adoption" beyond these verticals and geographical focal points, Gartner said. Genie's product user interface is also dated and limited when compared to other competitors' products, Gartner found.

Niksun: Niche Player

NPMD Annual Revenue For Niksun: $21 million to $50 million

Niksun's NPMD products exist under the broad umbrella of its NetVCR Suite, designed specifically for large-scale network monitoring. NetVCR appliances support "high-fidelity data capture" and analytics at speeds exceeding 100 Gbps, said Gartner. Other products include NetTradeWatch, for visibility into the trading network environment; NetVoice, for VoIP oversight and administration; and FlowAggregator Alpine, a flow traffic collector.

Princeton, N.J.-based Niksun is ranked last in execution and among those at the bottom of the list for vision.

Niksun

Strengths: The vendor maintains a leading position at high speeds with packet capture of more than 100 G, with faster processing and more storage in its new Supreme Eagle hardware platform, according to Gartner. Niksun has a unique strategy for machine-to-machine and IoT environments that leverage its ability to scale.

Weaknesses: Gartner has observed limited advances in application level visibility, analytics and root cause analysis. Niksun has limited market presence and visibility compared with other vendors on the quadrant that "may limit their growth" potential, said Gartner.