Dynatrace is one of the best solutions for monitoring according to the authoritative opinion of Gartner. The Magic Quadrant 2021 for Application Performance Monitoring (APM), in fact, places it among the leading companies for the eleventh consecutive time. According to the definition adopted by Gartner as a methodological approach in its Magic Quadrant, APM tools include «"software allowing the observation of the behavior of applications and their infrastructural dependencies, users and business KPIs throughout the life cycle of the application. The observed applications can be developed internally, as “packaged” applications, or as software as a Service (SaaS) ». The vendors selected by Gartner occupy one of the four sections of the quadrant (leaders, challengers, niche players, visionaries) according to the strengths encountered and the so-called "cautions", related to the aspects to be improved or on which to pay attention. We will talk about the ones regarding Dynatrace, and why Gartner continues to consider this monitoring platform one of the most comprehensive on the market.
Dynatrace features for monitoring
The Dynatrace platform is primarily focused on offering core APM functionalities with modular capabilities that include IT infrastructure monitoring (ITIM), digital experience monitoring (DEM), business analytics, artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps), cloud automation and application security. As can be seen, its monitoring capability embraces what is now called observability and can include applications, infrastructure, user experience, automation and security in multi-cloud environments. All with a single tool capable of covering the entire technology stack, thanks to the extension of its analysis capabilities guaranteed by the Davis AI engine that manages new data sources, including OpenTelemetry. Dynatrace monitoring is now integrated with leading cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), as well as being extended to a NoOps approach through the Keptn open source project. The latter provides the automation and orchestration of the processes and tools necessary for continuous delivery and automated operations for cloud-native environments.
Dynatrace's strengths in monitoring
Gartner's Magic Quadrant for APM Solutions identifies 3 strengths in the Dynatrace platform for monitoring:
1. Modular ability
As per above, Dynatrace offers an integrated solution for different market segments, the same ones listed above: DEM, ITIM, AIOps, cloud automation, security, etc.
2. Ease of implementation
Dynatrace's OneAgent architecture allows organizations to continuously discover and collect observability data in a fast and automated way, with market feedback attesting to the acquisition of a faster time to value (TTV). This parameter, often associated with Return on Investment (ROI), calculates the time that elapses between the perception of a need in the company and its satisfaction through an IT project.
3. Automation
Thanks to Keptn, Dynatrace recently launched its cloud automation offer which sees the integration of the platform, in SaaS or managed mode, with automation processes taking place in continuous delivery and closed-loop remediation.
A few warnings
The "cautions" areas highlighted by Gartner regarding Dynatrace are 3 and refer in particular to the monitoring market scenario in which the platform operates:
1. Higher prices based on the environment
Dynatrace has no tiered pricing for non-production environments, and costs for memory-intensive environments vary.
2. An immature market
The market in which the Dynatrace platform is positioned is lagging and this has impacts on the extensibility of monitoring to potentially integrable applications, but which discount their not being in line with the innovation of which Dynatrace is a leader.
3. Awareness on new use cases
Similarly to what was mentioned earlier regarding the immaturity of the market, awareness for new use cases, such as those of application security and the digital workplace, is in its infancy, albeit destined to develop. This implies a slowdown in the choice of organizations to equip themselves with an advanced monitoring platform such as Dynatrace.
