approaches to network monitoring and management · monitoring and managing network traffic in...

Copyright ©2019 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.

Summary Results | November 2019

Approaches to Network Monitoring and Management

Summary Results | November 2019Copyright ©2019 Gatepoint Research. All rights reserved. This report is the sole property of Gatepoint Research and may not be used, reproduced or redistributed in any form including, but not limited to, print & digital form without express written consent of Gatepoint Research.

Executive OverviewMonitoring and managing network traffic in today’s evolving environments comes with unique challenges. Just sending the appropriate traffic to the right security tools or teams can be difficult. Cloud traffic and encrypted traffic, in particular, often create significant network blind spots, increasing risks for the organization. Organizations are approaching network visibility in different ways. This survey explores the trends and challenges that IT and Network Operations executives are experiencing today, and their plans for 2020.

This survey asked respondents to report:

▶ Which infrastructures do they currently use?

▶ What are their toughest network issues?

▶ Which types of network tools do they use?

▶ What do they use to monitor their network traffic?

▶ What initiatives do they plan in the coming months?


Q: Which of the following infrastructures does your organization currently use?

90%

63% 63%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

On-premises Private cloud Public cloud

Cloud use is growing. Over 60% of respondents reported private and public cloud use. However, on-premises remains the most common infrastructure type at organizations in the survey.


Q: What network issues keep you up at night?

72%

51%

50%

24%

20%

18%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Downtime

Performance

New security threats

Blind spots

Compliance

Increasing costs (e.g. for tools)

Most respondents listed downtime (72%) as their most insomnia-inducing network issue. Performance (51%) and emerging security threats (50%) were also responsible for some restless nights.


Q: Is downtime (planned or unplanned) related to tool and network upgrades a problem for you?

Yes47%

No53%

Downtime was also a major issue during tool and network upgrades.

Nearly half of those surveyed cited that it was a problem for their organization.


Q: Which types of network tools do you use?

75%

68%

54%

49%

38%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Intrusion Detection System (IDS)/Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)(e.g., FireEye, Fortinet, etc.)

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) /Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR)

(e.g., QRadar, Splunk, etc.)

Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics (NPMD) (e.g., ExtraHop, Riverbed, etc.)

Application Performance Monitoring (APM)(e.g., AppDynamics, DynaTrace, etc.)

Network Packet Broker (NPB)(e.g., BigSwitch, Gigamon, etc.)

Respondents also revealed they rely on a broad range of network tools. 50% or more of those surveyed use all of these tools: IDS/IPS systems, SIEM/SOAR and NPMD.


Q: What do you use to monitor network traffic?

72%

55%

39%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Switched port analyzer (SPAN) ports Network terminal access points (TAPs) Network packet broker (NPB)

As far as getting traffic to the tools, 72% of respondents reported using SPAN ports and 55% reported using TAPs instead of, or in addition to, SPAN. Together with TAPs, 39% are using a network packet broker (NPB) to send traffic to monitoring tools.


Q: What, if anything, is preventing you from sending the right network traffic to your security tools/team?

35%

27%

24%

23%

10%

4%

38%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Network blind spots (remote offices, IoT traffic, etc.)

Cloud traffic

Encrypted traffic

East-west / intra host traffic between VMs

SPAN port contention

Other

N/A

Network blind spots (35%) was cited as the leading challenge for routing traffic quickly and accurately to tools and teams. However, cloud traffic (27%), encrypted traffic (24%) and intra host traffic (23%) were also commonly reported roadblocks.


Q: What are your organization's priority initiatives in the next 12 to 18 months?

53%

53%

44%

32%

31%

21%

15%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Improving security posture

Reducing costs (e.g., maximizing existinginvestments, reducing tool sprawl)

Moving more workloads to the cloud

Addressing regulatory or compliance changes

Upgrading network speeds

Serving our mobile workforce

Adding new data center(s)

What’s top of mind for 2020? More than half (53%) of respondents say their top priority in the coming months will be to improve security and/or reduce costs.


Gigamon delivers network visibility and analytics for all digital applications and services across physical, virtual and cloud infrastructures to boost both performance and security needs, helping you get the most out of your existing tools.

Contact your Gigamon representative or learn more at Gigamon.com.


Responder Demographics▶ Between September and November 2019, Gatepoint Research invited selected IT executives to participate in a

blind survey themed Approaches to Network Monitoring and Management.

▶ Candidates were invited via a combination of email and direct mail and 300 executives have participated to date.

▶ Management levels represented are predominantly senior decision makers: 36% hold the title CxO, VP, or Director, and 64% are Managers.

▶ Survey participants represent firms from a wide variety of industries including business services, construction, consumer services, education, financial services, healthcare, media, manufacturing (general, primary and high tech), mining, public administration, retail trade, telecom services, transportation, utilities, and wholesale trade.

▶ Responders work for firms with a wide range of revenue levels:

§ 58% work in Fortune 1000 companies with revenues over $1.5 billion;

§ 12% work in Large firms whose revenues are between $500 million and $1.5 billion;

§ 8% work in Mid-Market firms with $250 million to $500 million in revenues;

§ 22% work in Small companies with less than $250 million in revenues.

▶ 100% of responders participated voluntarily; none were engaged using telemarketing.


Profile of Responders:Industry Sectors

Responders represent a wide variety of industries.

Business Services21%

Financial Services21%

Healthcare9%

Retail Trade8%

Wholesale Trade6%

Mfg - High Tech6%

Mfg - General5%

Utilities5%

Transportation4%

Consumer Services3%

Mfg -Primary

3%

Telecom Services

3%

Media2%

Mining2%

Construction1%

Public Administration1%

Education0%

Other12%


Profile of Responders:Revenue

58% of those surveyed work in Fortune 1000 companies with revenues over $1.5 billion.

>$1.5billion58%$500 million -

$1.5 billion12%

$250 - 500 million8%

<$250 million22%


Profile of Responders:Job Level

36% of those surveyed hold Director or executive level positions in their organizations.

CxO1%

VP1%

Director34%

Manager64%

approaches to network monitoring and management · monitoring and managing network traffic in...

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