Build or Buy?
"Fidelia considered building our own discovery engine, but time to market was critical. We realized that it would take several years to create a robust, field-tested engine. By partnering with AMT, we were able to reduce the product development cycle to a matter of months rather than years."
Vikas Aggarwal - CTO, Fidelia Technology, Inc. (Now Zyrion)
Building Your Own Takes Too Long
Experience has proven that "throwing resources at the problem" is not always the best solution. While assigning a group of developers may expedite the coding, launching a robust and field-tested discovery product takes at least two years. Here's why:
- Vendors can't or won't follow standards or standards are immature or non-existent
- Users build unconventional networks
- Breadth and accuracy of discovery can only be measured via extensive field testing over time
Maintaining Your Own Is Not Practical
Business agility demands frequent changes in direction, resulting in competition for development resources. While sales & marketing demands focus on new revenue producing features, customer issues in the field require immediate attention. It is easy to see why many important enhancements never make it out of the requirements document. Here's why:
- New feature requests consume development resources
- Sales support and customer issues take priority
- Exception handling in the field diverts resources
- Limited programming resources
- Constant flow of new devices and technologies that must be included in discovery and tested
Network Ferret offers a better alternative for discovery.
Click here for a copy of "Commoditization of NMS Software", an AMT Position Paper.