End-User Complaints Still Serve as Initial Indication of Performance Issues
WESTFORD, Mass. & LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 22,
2007--NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT), the industry pacesetter
for advanced network and service assurance solutions, today announced
from the floor of the Interop Las Vegas tradeshow that a recent
customer survey revealed the nGenius(R) Performance Management System
has cut network performance problem diagnosis times by nearly 70
percent. Users reported that problem diagnosis took an average of 9.1
hours with other tools and approaches, and an average of 2.8 hours
once the nGenius System was deployed.
The survey data further revealed that network managers experience
a threefold increase in the number of diagnoses possible within the
first three hours; 26 percent of all problems were diagnosed in this
critical window before the nGenius System was deployed versus 77
percent afterwards. Driving this rapid resolution is NetScout's "KPI
to Flow to Packet" approach, which enables IT operators to see a key
performance indicator (KPI), then easily and rapidly drill down to
conversation and flow details and then to packet sequences - as far as
they need to diagnose the problem. Other solutions force the user to
first select a time frame and then iteratively sift through and
analyze packets until they find the right information--a much more
time-consuming, bandwidth-demanding, and error-prone approach.
The Next Challenge: Early Warnings to Prevent Angry End-User Calls
The study, which polled 284 NetScout users and was completed in
April, also revealed room for improvement: 75.9 percent of IT managers
said a primary source of performance problem information is the
irritated end-user who calls the help desk. NetScout is working to
reduce this source of network-management pain, with nGenius(R)
Analytics 1.2 (see related announcement: "NetScout Moves the Industry
Towards Proactive Network Management With Major Enhancements to its
Early-Warning System for Application Performance and VoIP Assurance").
An early warning system, nGenius Analytics 1.2 aims to achieve
diagnostic velocity so that performance degradations are identified
and corrected before end users are impacted.
Other key findings within the survey include:
- QoS usage is on the rise. Eighty-three percent of the
organizations reported that they have either already
implemented QoS policies or plan to do so in the next 12
months. More than one third (36.4 percent) said the primary
reason to implement QoS was to support VoIP traffic. nGenius
Analytics 1.2 specifically addresses VoIP quality metrics by
passively monitoring jitter. Another third (31.8 percent) said
they made the decision to implement QoS either as part of a
WAN services offering or to support VoIP on an MPLS WAN.
- Twenty-three percent of customers have a management by
objectives (MBO) directive on Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). A
comparison of NetScout customer survey data from January 2006
to March 2007 shows that number grew from 6.3 percent, a
stunning 272 percent increase in slightly more than a year's
time. The increase in MBO rates shows that more network
managers are being asked to formally report on their ability
to address performance problems and therefore need reliable
reporting functions such as those provided by the nGenius
System.
- More than 25 percent of network managers view the relationship
between the applications and network groups as "slightly or
moderately adversarial" within their organizations. The
nGenius System is a collaborative solution for problem
identification when various IT groups within an organization
meet to discuss performance issues.
"NetScout's customers are experiencing dramatic improvements in
shaving the time spent diagnosing problems, and the advanced Analytics
announcement we are making today shows our continued commitment to
improving diagnostic velocity," said Jim Frey, NetScout's Vice
President of Marketing. "As our customers have cited, this advanced
automated performance monitoring technology is working, and giving
network managers a major head start in preventing or resolving network
disruptions, - not to mention assuring VoIP call quality - leading to
significantly reduced MTTR."
To learn more about these NetScout customer survey results, read
Rethinking MTTR, by well-known industry analyst Jim Metzler. It can be
found at: http://www.netscout.com/library/impactbriefs/
default.asp?cpid=otc-pr&date=2007-05-22 (Due to the length of this
URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste it into your Internet
browser's URL address field. You may also need to remove an extra
space in the URL if one exists.)
About NetScout Systems
NetScout Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTCT) has been the industry
pacesetter for advanced network and service assurance solutions for
over a decade, and counts the world's largest enterprises, government
agencies, and service providers among its customers. Enterprise and
government IT organizations deploy NetScout's nGenius(R) Performance
Management System to increase service levels to their users by
reducing or preventing service disruptions. Service providers depend
on NetScout's proven IP performance management technology and
expertise to protect the quality of their customers' experience with
IP-based services. NetScout is headquartered in Westford,
Massachusetts and has offices worldwide. Further information is
available at http://www.netscout.com.
(C)2007 NetScout Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. NetScout and
the NetScout logo, nGenius, and Quantiva are registered trademarks of
NetScout Systems, Inc. The CDM logo, MasterCare, Progressive Analytics
and the MasterCare logo, are trademarks of NetScout Systems, Inc.
Other brands, product names and trademarks are property of their
respective owners. NetScout reserves the right, at its sole
discretion, to make changes at any time in its technical information
and specifications, and service and support programs.
CONTACT: NetScout Systems, Inc.
Christine Johansen, 978-614-4113
johansenc@netscout.com
or
Davies Murphy Group, Inc.
Brian Alberti, 781-418-2403
netscout@daviesmurphy.com
SOURCE: NetScout Systems, Inc.