Additionally, business service management (BSM) and systems management vendors are realizing that providing a single platform for monitoring the performance of different infrastructure parts resonates with end-user organizations. As a result, many of them are enhancing their "single pane of glass" platforms with more robust capabilities for application performance monitoring, either through building new monitoring features of their products or making it easier to import data collected by specialty APM tools into their platforms. Some of the vendors that fall into this category include Uptime Software, AccelOps, Nimsoft and Zyrion. Also, eG Innovations is a good example of a company in this market that was able to use its capabilities for application performance monitoring to create a competitive advantage, both through its own capabilities for active and passive monitoring and by partnering with APM vendors such as Tevron.

Furthermore, self-learning technologies and IT management products that are using business intelligence (BI) concepts for aggregating and correlating information collected by other IT performance management tools are also having an impact on the role that APM solutions play in the enterprise. These products allow organizations to improve the value of IT performance management data that they are already collecting by putting it in the right context and enabling organizations to create synergies between different IT management tools, including APM products. Some of the solutions based on active learning technologies that leverage information collected by APM tools include Netuitive and Prelert, while vendors such as ASG Software and Monolith Software provide centralized repository and correlation platforms for analyzing different types of IT performance data.

2011 outlook – Enabling service-centric approach for IT performance management

Going into 2011, a major task for APM vendors could be finding the best way to support the growing need of end-user organizations to center their IT management efforts on the overall health of IT services, as opposed to managing the performance of infrastructure parts separately. Network monitoring vendors, such as NetScout and Network Instruments, are already moving in that direction. NetScout recently introduced nGenius Service Delivery Manager, while Network Instruments enhanced its Observer Reporting Server with capabilities for monitoring IT service delivery. Also, OPNET recently announced that its Service Xpert product will be available in Q2 of 2011. This is not to say that products for managing application performance are becoming less important, it just further exemplifies that many organizations are looking to evaluate application performance in broader context and be able to understand how the performance of applications impacts the overall health of IT services.

In the meantime, APM vendors have their work cut out for them, as needs of end-users are creating new requirements for capabilities, delivery methods and pricing models. With the increased competition in this market and pressures from end-users to innovate finding a new "label" that would be the most descriptive for their solutions should be the least of their worries. More importantly, the majority of end-users don't really care about what "label" is being attached to technology products that they are evaluating, but about how effective they are in addressing specific problems that their organizations are looking to address.