Killer Apps 2013

The continuous rise of application performance problems: 79% of organizations still suffer application performance problems despite increased IT budgets June 2013

Foreword
In todays increasingly mobile and connected world, IT departments are experiencing change like never before. This increases complexity. Companies are tapping into the benefits brought by unified communications, personalised devices, SaaS applications, the cloud, social media, and more. Simultaneously, IT-less offices, consolidated datacentres, public cloud, and SaaS applications are becoming the, extending the requirements for hybrid networking where companies combine traditional MPLS networks with internet links. These developments bring with them a host of benefits including cost reduction, improved collaboration and new, more efficient IT architectures. However, they also place increasing stress on corporate networks. As users rely on the flow of constant, continuous, high-quality applications, networking strategies have sometimes struggled to keep pace. Globally, application performance problems are happening more frequently. Killer Apps 2012 revealed the challenges of Killer Apps to the network and business productivity. This years research indicates these challenges are still not being appropriately addressed. In fact, the rate at which they are being experienced is actually increasing for the majority of enterprises. Despite global increases in IT budgets, companies are still experiencing high levels of application performance issues. This reality can have a dramatic impact, particularly on the critical applications that support core functions of the business. Application performance problems such as slowness and nonresponsiveness impact the user experience and the overall productivity of the organization. Todays enterprises have limited control based on traditional classes of service principles that have been used for over 20 years and were not designed for cloud environments. The challenge is clear: enterprises need to find a way to guarantee the performance of networked applications, no matter their type, method of access or technical network architecture. Nowhere do we see a clearer example of this than in the United States. Our research confirms that the US is further ahead in terms of adoption of the cloud and advanced applications like UC than Europe. What should come as a warning sign is the direct correlation between this advanced adoption and the significantly higher levels of application performance problems experienced by US companies. Although the US budgets increase far more than any other region on corporate networking, they still have the highest rate of application performance problems. To secure efficient operation of business critical applications, companies need to think about application performance management in a new way. They need to understand what is flowing over their networks and how traffic patterns behave. They need dynamic controls to guarantee the performance delivered to each application user. Its time for companies to go beyond the mantra of adding more bandwidth and beyond pure WAN Optimization techniques. No two applications are the same and the network should no longer treat them equally. Failing to do so could create widespread application anarchy where a wide array of apps compete in a largely unmanaged way

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

for network resources, preventing predictable performance for applications that matter to the business. We hope you find the insights detailed below valuable and that you can join us in encouraging both global businesses and smaller companies to address the application performance management challenge. Justin Fielder, CTO, Easynet Global Services Thierry Grenot, EVP and co-founder, Ipanema Technologies

Executive summary of Killer Apps 2013

Application performance matters because the business relies on IT Controlling applications in a changing environment is a complex task 79% of organizations suffer application performance problems For the majority of organizations (54%), these problems are becoming more frequent Business applications and Unified Communications applications most frequently suffer performance problems Data networking requirements are increasing significantly at a rate of >20% for nearly half of respondents Bandwidth increase is costly and will not solve this challenge it requires a different approach. WAN Optimization solutions do not solve the application performance challenge Companies need application performance management solutions to define and enforce SLAs Its time for enterprises to use technology and services offering dynamic control over the network to guarantee their application performance anytime, everywhere

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

Top Global Findings in 2013

Performance problems arent things of the past In Killer Apps 2012, we noted that the majority of organizations suffer application performance problems. This trend has only continued in 2013, with 79% of respondents citing issues in the last 12 months. According to Killer Apps 2013, these application performance problems are becoming more frequent. In fact the majority (54%) of organizations surveyed found that application performance problems, such as slowness or non-responsiveness, are happening more often. This is a concerning 10% rise on 2012.

The above figures mean that for many companies, their networks are running slowly or being unresponsive. This can impact user experience and reduce productivity. Studies have shown that losing a mere five minutes a day due to poor application performance represents a loss of 1% of people efficiency. Simultaneously, poor application performance means large investments in network intensive applications like Unified Communications do not deliver the ROI that was originally forecast.

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

Performance problems are hitting key applications hardest Respondents noted business critical applications (such as CRM and ERP systems) most frequently suffered performance problems with 34% of organizations citing this category. Video and Unified Communications applications were a close second at 28%, followed by general collaboration and vertical applications both at 11%. These figures highlight how little control IT departments have today and the serious risk posed to the applications that matter the most to an organizations productivity. Simultaneously, the metrics used to judge application performance are fragmented. This means companies cannot tell you how an application is performing, opening up the network to serious risks.

When examined from a global lens, it is clear that companies around the world are experiencing fairly similar issues with business apps and video/ UC apps. Germany and the USA have the highest level of issues with business apps, at 38% and 45% respectively. The UK, Spain and Italy experience significant issues with video and UC apps. Slightly uniquely, Spain is experiencing performance problems with collaboration software at a rate far higher than other regions; similarly, Italy is experiencing issues with vertical apps.

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

Particularly concerning is the amount of problems experienced by video and UC applications, given the growing importance of these tools. For instance, in the US 86% of organizations use video and UC apps. Over a fifth of respondents expected video and UC to drive the greatest growth in network resources consumed in the future. This suggests a potentially powerful threat to application success and business productivity. The good news is that only 20% of respondents dont know how many applications are running across their corporate networks, down from 31% last year. This means that enterprises are now increasingly conscious of the importance of the network for business performance. Data growth and networking budgets are up in 2013 By and large, data networking requirements are growing rapidly for the majority of companies. 40% of respondents see data growing at greater than 20% per annum, with virtually all companies seeing at least 10% growth. Compared to Killer Apps 2012, it appears data growth is increasing at a quicker rate for most companies in 2013. Last year, only 30% of companies saw growth occurring at more than 20% per annum, 10% fewer than this year.

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

Mirroring this growth, networking budgets are also on the rise globally, with 52% of respondents reporting a growth of networking budget in the last year. Again this figure is far higher than 2012 where roughly only a third of organizations increased networking budgets. Taken together, these figures suggest that while companies are increasing spend on the network, they are still experiencing more problems compared to 12 months ago. This indicates that simply adding greater capacity or making the pipes bigger doesnt mean applications will perform reliably.

The US An indication of the future

Whats happening in the US Killer Apps 2013 indicated that the US is further ahead in terms of adopting certain advanced IT tools, such as cloud apps, UC, and other advanced applications. For instance, 69% of US respondents have some cloud apps, compared to 48% globally. Likewise, 86% of US companies use video apps, compared to 60% globally. Mirroring the stronger uptake of these applications, the US has seen much faster bandwidth growth than other markets. 54% of US respondents indicated that their data networking requirements were growing at greater than 20% per annum, compared to 40% globally. One of the possible results of such growth has been a strong investment from the US in the network when compared to global figures (86% US compared to 52% globally). Despite the impressive amount of US networking investment, the US reported far more business application issues than any other region. 90% of US respondents indicated theyre having application difficulties 11% more than the global average. These issues are also becoming more frequent at a higher rate in the US. 69% of US respondents said application issues are occurring more often, compared to the 54% global total.

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

Why the US serves as a warning signal to the rest of the world In the US, the increase of networking budgets has coincided with the increase in application performance problems. American companies are rapidly taking on certain exciting applications, such as video apps and cloud apps, faster than the rest of the world. They are likewise suffering higher rates and more frequently occurring issues. 84% of US companies have adopted application metrics in an effort to alleviate performance issues. While this is a step in the right direction, the continued rate of application issues suggests companies need something more. They must look beyond measurement and move to dynamic control to secure and guarantee application performance. What next? Overall, Killer Apps 2013 indicated that 79% of organizations are suffering application performance problems. For the majority of organizations (54%), these problems are becoming more frequent. Crucial tools, such as business applications, video applications and UC applications are most frequently suffering application performance issues. In the future, companies expect that the deployment of critical applications will drive the increase in bandwidth. Enterprises will increasingly want to decide which applications make use of the network and prioritize accordingly.

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

Increasing budgets and bandwidth are not enough to solve these challenges. The US is proof of this. The difficulties posed by applications require a different approach. Companies need solutions and services that will allow them to control and guarantee the performance of key applications as they use the network, anytime and anywhere. Going beyond classical WAN Optimization tools (which address bandwidth scarcity), Application Performance Guarantee (APG) solutions and services dynamically align applications performance with business goals, allowing companies to successfully support IT transformations and new usages. Companies can then guarantee the performance of top, business-critical applications, maximize end-user experience, optimize global network resources, and finally reduce their IT costs.

Details of Killer Apps 2013

Killer Apps 2013 surveyed 650 respondents, consisting of IT managers, CIO/IT directors, network managers, and IT professionals. Responses were drawn from seven key regions: Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK and USA. Responses were drawn from across a range of sectors, including financial services, public sector, manufacturing, technology & IT, utilities, and more. All respondents were from large enterprises (50/50 split between companies with 1001-3000 employees, and companies with more than 3000 employees). The 2013 research was undertaken by independent research firm Vanson Bourne using an online survey methodology during Q2 2013. The research was commissioned by Easynet and Ipanema Technologies to understand the scale of the application performance challenge

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

Smart Application Assurance from Easynet Smart Application Assurance (SAA) is an industry first, enabling performance expectations to be set for individual applications with automatic alerts triggered by performance degradation. These automated alerts, along with deep systems integration and highly responsive processes, provide our customers with vastly improved incident management. Managing a network is not easy. The rapid rate of changes in technology, new sites, big data, the importance of the user experience, the move to virtualized and cloud infrastructure, and the multitude of applications (business authorized ones along with unauthorized, employee downloaded ones), all mean that WANs are more complex and more difficult to manage than ever before. Powered by Ipanema Technologies, SAA enables the creation of individual policies governing the performance level required for each application. Easynet then proactively monitors performance fluctuations of applications. When performance dips, alerts are created, the customer is contacted and issues are resolved to industry leading SLAs. Application Performance Guarantee from Ipanema The unique Ipanema Autonomic Networking System automatically guarantees business application performance and continuity in all complex enterprise network environments through tightly coupled features that together bring a unique level of intelligence to the enterprise network: Application Visibility, providing full understanding of application usage and performance over the global network from the smallest detail up to high-level SLA-based application performance management and capacity planning. QoS & Control, dynamically adjusting network behavior and resources to the exact application traffic demand guaranteeing critical application performance in the most complex and changing traffic situations. WAN Optimization, accelerating applications response times and offering additional virtual bandwidth to the network. Dynamic WAN Selection for multi-networked branch offices, selecting automatically the best network according to actual performance and application traffic characteristics.

As a result, the user experience is guaranteed, the business applications are accelerated, the hybrid network is unified and the costs are reduced. The WAN becomes a coherent and predictable asset, fully aligned with business needs driving higher levels of enterprise performance.

Easynet & Ipanema Technologies June 2013

10

ABOUT IPANEMA TECHNOLOGIES Ipanema provides enterprises with a direct connection between application performance and their business requirements. With Ipanema Technologies, enterprises understand which applications use the network and automatically deliver guaranteed performance to each user. Enterprises can support their strategic IT transformations (like cloud computing and Unified Communications) and control Internet growth while reducing their IT expenses. Ipanemas customers range from midsized companies to enterprises with 1,000s of sites. Enterprises can use Ipanema as a product through an international network of certified channel partners, and as a service through Managed Service Providers and telecom operators' managed services. For SMBs, Ipanema is available as a service through Ipanema's AppsWork authorized partner network. For more information visit www.ipanematech.com

ABOUT EASYNET Easynet is a network, hosting and cloud integration business. It has customers, employees and offices in every continent, and combines global reach with local expertise, providing a personalised experience wherever its customers are in the world. Customers include EDF, Sage, FOX, Yakult, Transport for London, Bridgestone, Q Park and Campofrio. Together with the management team, Easynet is owned by LDC (Lloyds TSB Development Capital). LDC is the leading mid-market private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group. For more information visit www.easynet.com