The environment in which applications run is in constant flux. Any company that thinks it has a bullet-proof application better think again, says Shoap. Applications are being stressed in new ways, Shoap adds. The infrastructure is changing with faster media, as well as with different switches and routers. Or, a company may need to integrate new systems as a result of an acquisition.
Electronic commerce introduces new technology into the mix.
Any of these changes may affect application performance. Response time still means the time between Enter and answer. Measuring that time, however, has become more difficult in today s multivendor, multilocation, multiserver network. In the current environment, users have more influence over what flows on corporate networks. A router may hum along all morning, for example, and then choke on a multimegabyte graphic file sent by a design engineer.