NetQoS: Powering CA’s Network Assurance Solution
Back in September 2009, we mentioned that CA, Inc. had acquired network monitoring solution provider NetQoS, but we didn’t hear much after that. Seeking answers, I spoke with NetQoS and CA about the acquisition, what NetQoS brought to the table, and what they can offer a managed services provider.
Founded in 1999, the Texas-based NetQoS quickly made a name for itself with the then-innovative retrospective approach to network monitoring and analysis, meaning users could look and see how the network was doing at a given date and time, not just at the present moment, says Mike Magri, director of industry solutions for NetQoS.
By the mid-2000’s, NetQoS and their Performance Center started to garner notice for its rapid growth and pioneering technology.
So when CA decided to expand their Network Assurance portfolio, it was only natural that they looked to business with NetQoS. CA would get network traffic analysis and network application awareness products to add to their network monitoring solution, says Steve Guthrie, senior principal of product marketing for CA.
For their part, NetQoS would be able to leverage CA’s sales and support infrastructure to close deals and keep customers. In September of 2009, the acquisition went through for $200 million in cold hard cash.
The MSP Angle
So what does all this mean for MSPs? Simple, says NetQoS’s Magri – services providers now have a top to bottom solution for keeping track of increasingly complex networks through CA.
The current version of NetQoS Performance Center is aimed at helping IT pros figure out how best to handle networks that now have to handle virtualized applications, collaboration suites, VoIP, and any number of other bandwidth-heavy applications. As CA’s Guthrie points out, a more efficiently-managed network is a more cost-effective one, and besides, someone has to service their network if it turns out to need optimization.
In my favorite simile ever, Magri says that trying to compete with other network management firms and MSPs in that space was like a “knife fight in a phone booth.” What that means is that NetQoS relies entirely on their channel partners to sell to enterprises with seats in the double digits.
Stay tuned as I keep an eye on NetQoS and the broader application performance market.
I can’t ever see CA bringing any of their products through the SMB MSP channel. The products are way TOO $$$ and way TOO complex. CA lives in the Big Enterprise land and plays only where the customer pays…gt;BIG TIME!
Scott: I realize CA plays mostly in the enterprise. But have you been watching ARCserve moves involving MSPs and SaaS? Thoughts?
-jp
Matt: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us about our presence in the MSP market. I’m glad you liked my “knife fight in a phone booth” reference! What I was trying to say is that, despite a crowded market segment, NetQoS has had success on our own selling network performance management offerings to service providers, who are finding that many customers don’t want to deploy and manage their own performance monitoring solutions. We’ve already seen T-Systems, Savvis, EDS and others build very successful offerings around CA NetQoS capabilities. With the expanded portfolio that comes as part of being CA – including Wily application performance monitoring, and eHealth and Spectrum infrastructure management capabilities – we expect to be the platform of choice at a number of providers large and small that want to bring new performance-based offerings to their customer bases.
I’ve dealt with CA in the past but I’m not sure how ARCServe will fly in the MSP/SaaS space. Certainly, CA’s overhead and size, I believe, will make it very difficult for them to price and service the small to medium MSP market. Surely, the bigger guys supporting enterprise-scale customers may provide some traction, but trying to recoup a $200 million dollar cash acquisition doesn’t necessarily lend itself to single-digit/seat MSP fare. Who knows? But given their CA Unicenter heritage, I can’t possibly imagine this will be very easy. 🙂