What is network performance management?
Patrick Ancipink: Network performance management (NPM) is the process of ensuring that applications are delivered across the network infrastructure as efficiently as possible and identifying where there is opportunity for improvement. Traffic across the wide area network is growing in both volume and complexity due to trends such as software-as-a-service (SaaS), cloud computing, rapid adoption of voice and video, data center and server consolidation, and rising numbers of remote employees and branch offices. As a result, the performance of networked applications has taken on greater significance, especially for large, distributed organizations that depend on optimal application performance to conduct business. How is NPM different from network fault management? Network fault management focuses on the availability of systems, which, while important, is no longer adequate for ensuring that applications are performing well across the network. This approach focuses on devices by using faul
