Quest Software, Inc. is a $476 million company which delivers innovative products that help organizations get more performance and productivity from their applications, databases and windows infrastructure. Through a deep expertise in IT operations and a continued focus on what works best, Quest helps more than 18,000 customers worldwide meet higher expectations for enterprise IT. Quest Software can be found in offices around the globe and at www.quest.com.
Quest Software's Application Management solutions help organizations meet service levels and manage complexity by increasing quality, performance, and control throughout the lifecycle of SOA, Java, .NET, portal, SAP, and Oracle Fusion applications. Quest Application Management solutions provide code quality and optimization, performance and availability, and change and configuration management.
Through a strategic acquisition in late 2004, Quest Software added a new product to its offering for 2005 – a tool that monitors the user experience to determine whether performance is within acceptable ranges. Unlike all of the company's previous offerings, however, the new product was not only software. Instead, it was an appliance – software that is pre-loaded onto its own hardware, and runs on its own dedicated operating system. This unfamiliar method of delivery created challenges and concerns for Quest.
Simply put, many within Quest were uncomfortable with the idea of having to manage and deliver hardware worldwide. Software is their core competency, and an area where they have excelled. Moving to an appliance model even on one product would represent a drastic culture change for the company. For example, while Quest offers outstanding customer support for software, they were not set up to support hardware and the potential revenue did not justify creating a new hardware support group. At one point the company looked into moving the user experience monitor to a software-only model, but in the end they determined that, if they could get it to work for them, the appliance model was the better choice for this product.
Three of the biggest factors in Quest's determining to stay with the appliance model were 1) removing unknowns from the configuration of the software since it would have to be compatible with so many different systems, 2) optimizing performance and/or responsiveness, and 3) improving security.
The first point was obvious. Because an appliance's software runs on its own hardware, it would eliminate the question of what type of network card is on a user's server. This means the software could be developed and optimized to one set of specifications rather than having to cover several generically and then be tweaked later. It also means that Quest's support team would only have to spend a day on the customer's site to help with installation rather than the usual week often required to resolve hardware and software conflicts.
Using the appliance model also meant that Quest's customers would know exactly how much memory and CPU capacity was being used by the user experience monitor at any given time. There was no need to share resources with other software running on a general server, keeping performance, responsiveness, and throughput at peak levels. Finally, by using a stripped down version of Linux as the dedicated operating system, Quest would be able to eliminate OS-related security holes that are such a huge concern in enterprise applications these days.
As important as those factors were, however, the other side of the equation was whether Quest would be able to execute the strategy successfully, i.e. actually build and support an appliance. Since they lacked hardware expertise internally, and had no desire to add it, they needed a partner that could both fill in the gaps and guide them through this uncharted territory. The partner had to be able to do more than execute a design. It had to be prepared to add value at every step.
When Quest first acquired the end user monitor appliance, the hardware was being manufactured and the software was being imaged onto it by a very large, brand name hardware manufacturer. Problems immediately surfaced within that relationship, including an inability or unwillingness on the part of the partner to ship internationally and a general lack of responsiveness. After making the decision to stay with the appliance model, Quest decided to seek out a new partner that would be better-suited to their needs. After performing their due diligence, the company decided to turn the business over to MBX.
According to John Spirko, product manager of end user management solutions for Quest, the difference became apparent immediately. "While we wanted them to do much more, our previous supplier only built the boxes," he says. "When MBX came in, they started helping us every step of the way, from a faceplate redesign to contract development to imaging, building, testing, warehousing, and shipping – including international shipping. Their guidance was invaluable in raising the comfort level with the appliance model here at Quest."
MBX also solved another concern for Quest – how to support the hardware without adding cost. Quest now supplies first line support of the software, including initial installation/configuration and software issues. MBX handles second line support under the Quest name, including hardware-related and network compatibility issues. It is an arrangement that plays to each company’s strengths while maintaining strong brand identity as well as Quest’s reputation for exemplary customer service.
Another benefit that both Quest and its customers realize through the MBX-driven appliance model comes in the forms of updates. Rather than asking customers to go out to a site to download patches, upgrades, etc. the compressed files are pushed to each customer appliance automatically. The customer simply logs in on their console, clicks on the update button, and all updates are installed instantly, assuring that the customer is running the latest, best-performing, most secure version of the software.
One other unfamiliar issue that Quest had to face was the question of length of service/maintenance issues for an appliance versus software alone. With the basic software model, hardware is replaced regularly at the customer's discretion, independent of any software maintenance agreements. The appliance model, however works differently. While the maintenance agreement on the software can be renewed after three years, the hardware simply gets three years older. MBX and Quest created an upgrade path that allows customers to continue to use the appliance until it is no longer serviceable, and then replace it as needed at a cost equal to the original purchase price.
Although there was reluctance to continue the appliance model internally at Quest, Spirko says that resistance melted quickly. "After the initial period, sales took off trending on a steep slope upward," he says. "We were able to increase sales by a factor of 10 from Q1 of 2004 to the same period in 2005. Part of that was Quest's market position. But a big part was in delivering a product in the right form, and with the right level of partner support and guidance from MBX."
The user experience monitor appliance has been renamed using the Foglight® brand to Foglight Experience Monitor, and plans are under way to introduce a second appliance called the Foglight Experience Viewer that will capture in real time what every end user sees to reproduce and diagnose online issues that prevent successful transactions. Sales projections for both products are very aggressive, based in no small part on customer preference for the appliance model. And that's not all.
"Customers in the networking end of the business are very used to the appliance model, and many are more inclined to select an appliance than stand-alone software," Spirko says. "We're actually working with MBX to see if it makes sense to convert some of our existing network management software products to appliances. It's been a great experience for us, and we plan to leverage their expertise and willingness to go the extra mile to help us continue to out-pace the industry in the future."
Quest Software, Inc. delivers innovative products that help organizations get more performance and productivity from their applications, databases and infrastructure. Through a deep expertise in IT operations and a continued focus on what works best, Quest helps more than 18,000 customers worldwide meet higher expectations for enterprise IT. Quest Software can be found in offices around the globe and at www.quest.com.
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