Compuware Launches Major Upgrade To Gomez APM Platform

Already positioned as a leader in Gartner's September Magic Quadrant for application performance monitoring (APM), Compuware is looking to separate itself from the likes of IBM, CA, Quest, HP, OpTier and Opnet with a major upgrade of its Gomez APM platform. The company says the Fall 2011 release features eight industry-first innovations across its software-as-a-service (SaaS) and on-premises APM products, including the most comprehensive mobile and streaming media performance monitoring and testing network; Google Mobile Page Speed integration; the industry’s most advanced end user experience performance analytics; and further integration with the recently acquired DynaTrace for deep application visibility and diagnostics.

According to Gartner, $2 billion will be spent on APM licenses and first-year maintenance contracts in 2011, up 15% from 2010. This does not include APM-as-a-service revenues. Compuware, which values the combined APM market at $6 billion annually, shelled out $256 million to acquire DynaTrace in July, adding 400 customers and annual revenues in excess of $20 million. Gomez was acquired in 2009, and today Compuware has more than 7,000 customers and revenues approaching the $500 million mark.

Compuware's new release continues to strengthen the firm's ability to address the full life cycle of devops application performance management needs, says IDC's Mary Johnston Turner, research VP, enterprise systems management. "This is a very broad announcement that integrates the DynaTrace PurePath performance testing technology with Gomez synthetic and real user experience monitoring and analytics. It also adds improved dashboards, upgraded root-cause analytics, and significant new capabilities for monitoring and analyzing mobile environments. Taken together, the many elements of this announcement improve Compuware's relevance to both development and operations teams that are looking for comprehensive application performance management solutions."

Analyst Dennis Drogseth, VP, Enterprise Management Associates, was impressed by the consistency Compuware demonstrates in advancing its technology, making a significant announcement that continues to consolidate their leadership in the APM market. "It's an evolutionary announcement, but in a way that is even better than a revolutionary announcement because it's a substantial evolutionary announcement." He says the company has a broad offering that covers Web and non-Web applications inside and outside the firewall, with improvements in user experience and mobility--"a lot of very substantial stuff, very consistent and very logical."

Compuware says the SaaS version of the new release is available now, while the on-premises capability will go live in early November.

See more on this topic by subscribing to Network Computing Pro Reports Strategy: Calculating APM Costs (subscription required).