Monday, August 01, 2005

Quest Software announces End User Performance Management solution

Last week I got an e-mail from Quest Software informing me of the release of a new new end-user performance management solution which optimises the application-user experience.

According to the Quest Press Release: -

The new solution empowers application owners and IT administrators with the ability to improve the end user experience of their critical applications and assure optimal service levels by providing deep visibility into the application. The Quest End User Performance Management solution alerts users of performance issues and enables accountability by pinpointing the source of those issues, significantly reducing time to resolution.

The mail in question stated that this news was important because:

• It is the end-users of applications that determine the true value of the business applications, based on how effectively they are able to use them. End-users can include consumers browsing web sites, customers accessing external facing applications and employees accessing information internally.
• A negative experience can directly impact bottom line revenue generation or cost-cutting initiatives because it can result in lost sales or decreased employee productivity. By effectively measuring and managing the end user experience, organisations are able to better manage business objectives and ensure operational efficiency.
• End users can experience performance and availability issues despite the IT infrastructure running at optimum levels. Quest End User Performance Management solution allows IT administrators to pinpoint the issues and assist in resolution, allowing for total application performance management.
• The solution monitors transactions on both custom/J2EE and packaged applications such as SAP, Oracle E-Business, PeopleSoft and Siebel, providing a shift from the traditional monitoring markets (e.g. database and infrastructure). Monitoring from an end-user perspective allows organisations to focus on the issues that truly affect business performance.

My understanding is that this solution will make use of Quest Foglight Transaction Recorder (for active monitoring using synthetic user activity) and Quest User Experience Monitor (for continuous passive monitoring of all real user activity) to ensure application availability and optimal performance around the clock.

The only software I’ve ever used by Quest is TOAD. I think the idea of being able to monitor end user application performance is an excellent one since they are the first ones to know when anything goes wrong with the application and they are the ones most likely to be impacted by performance issues.

If any one has made use of the tools being mentioned, please add your comments.