Fluke Networks bridges the application and network performance visibility gap

Fluke Networks has announced that Visual TruView™, its award-winning Application-Aware Network Performance Management solution (AANPM), and the OptiView XG™, its flagship network analysis tablet, have been integrated to provide the industry’s first AANPM solution capable of analyzing an enterprise’s entire network infrastructure—including wired and wireless, application performance and device interconnectivity, and in-depth path analysis all the way to an end user’s specific device.

Instead of the typical back-and-forth checking of separate tools with multiple user interfaces and sign-ons to find and resolve problems, network engineers now have a unified view of wired and wireless performance across the entire organization, including remote sites and applications delivered across cloud, carrier and enterprise networks. Using Visual TruView, not only can they quickly identify if a problem exists, they can also isolate where in the path of delivery the problem may be hiding and effectively troubleshoot it, no matter where it occurs.

Today’s IT has increasingly shifted toward application-centric, service-oriented operations, and the need for application awareness within performance monitoring and management technologies has skyrocketed as a result. End user expectations have also risen sharply in line with their use of smart devices, mobile applications and streaming media. While end users may blame “the network” for any difficulties they encounter, the actual problem may reside elsewhere. Fluke Networks introduced its original AANPM solution, Visual TruView, in 2013 to help IT teams find and resolve performance problems regardless of where in the delivery path they arise.
By extending Visual TruView’s capabilities via tight integration with OptiView XG, Fluke Networks is leveraging its proven capabilities in network analysis and troubleshooting to provide greater visibility into remote network connectivity and the health of all components in the application/service delivery path. This approach effectively expands the traditional definition of AANPM.

“The new solution from Fluke Networks brings two advanced, best-in-class products together to address the challenge of truly effective end-to-end AANPM visibility,” said Jim Frey, vice president at Enterprise Management Associates. “Organizations who embrace this newly combined solution stand to gain substantial benefits in terms of increased operations effectiveness, shorter Mean Time to Repair, and improved ROI on their network management tools investments.”

Typically deployed in the datacenter, Visual TruView can be installed as a standalone appliance or as part of a multi-appliance distributed configuration, while OptiView XG can be deployed as an endpoint at remote sites or in a centralized location. This deployment flexibility is particularly useful now that the two appliances are integrated. Depending on the problem they are trying to solve, network engineers can take the OptiView XG to virtually anywhere and have it share data with Visual TruView, which streamlines troubleshooting application performance and end-user experience issues. This means that—for the first time—organizations now have fully centralized AANPM visibility with detailed local visibility across both wired and wireless networks.

An added benefit of TruView’s flexible deployment is its ability to grow with the enterprise. While a mid-sized organization may need only one TruView appliance, it can easily add more units to adapt to changing network requirements.

Visual TruView has been recognized as a best-in-class solution and was recently awarded a “Leader” standing in Gartner’s inaugural Magic Quadrant for Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics (AANPM is also known as NPMD). TruView was ranked as the best Hybrid AANPM solution and Value Leader by Enterprise Management Associates and has received numerous other industry awards.

“Visual TruView is the first solution of its kind, delivering complete application and network performance management in a truly unified way,” said Daryle DeBalski, vice president and general manager of the Fluke Networks Visual business unit. “When end users are frustrated by application performance or other IT resources not performing as expected, IT has to have an answer—and fast. By integrating Visual TruView with OptiView XG, Fluke Networks is helping network engineering and operations pros shift how they solve performance problems away from finger-pointing and toward more effective collaboration.”