Monitoring as a service

Monitoring as a Service is the provision of monitoring (eg network monitoring, website monitoring, backup [ [http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid187_gci1300007,00.html CommVault offers storage SaaS for data backup monitoring] ] , security and compliance monitoring [ [http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/techexec/2008/0204techexec1.html?page=1 Get data security and compliance monitoring as a service] ] ) as a service. There are many types of "monitoring as a service" (for example Monitoring SA have been providing media monitoring as a service since 1994 [ [http://www.monitoringsa.com/home/Company_News.asp Unlocking the power of being informed] ] ), however computer system monitoring as a service has been becoming increasingly popular since 2007 with the rise of cloud computing.

Users typically sign up online and specify the services they want monitored, receiving alerts via email and/or SMS and reports by email or web. This avoids the need to implement monitoring infrastructure (hardware and software) and allows them to consume the service on a utility computing basis. Previously users needed to set up and maintain dedicated systems running software like IBM Tivoli, HP Openview and BMC Patrol.

There are a growing number of "monitoring as a service" providers, including CAM Solutions, CITTIO [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2006_May_30/ai_n16420338 CITTIO Introduces Slingshot Kit — Enabling MSPs to Deliver Network and Systems Monitoring as a Service] ] , Hyperic, Monitis [http://www.pr.com/press-release/78741 Monitis Announces Advanced Systems Monitoring as a Service] ] , Redhat [http://www.redhat.com/f/pdf/command_center/Monitoring_as_a_Service.pdf Monitoring as a service] ] and TrustSaaS.

Legal issues

US trademark|77484486 CAM Solutions LLC applied to the USPTO to trademark the descriptive and generic term on 27 May 2008 with a first use anywhere date of 25 April 2008 for "Monitoring services, namely of business networks and mobile networks through the internet for events, database, application, transaction and system incidents" despite prior use of the term including Redhat's June 2007 paper, various companies offering monitoring as a service as at January 2008 [ [http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid187_gci1300007,00.html CommVault offers storage SaaS for data backup monitoring] ] and Monitis' February 2008 press release.

References

cite paper | authorlink=Redhat | title=Monitoring as a Service - SaaS and IT Infrastructure Monitoring | pages=4
publisher= | date=June 2007 | url=http://www.redhat.com/f/pdf/command_center/Monitoring_as_a_Service.pdf | format=PDF | accessdate=2008-08-15

See also

* Cloud computing
* Utility computing
* Software as a Service

External links

* CAM Solutions [http://www.camsolutionsinc.com/camlet-dashboard/ CAMLET ]
* Hyperic [http://cloudstatus.com/ CloudStatus]
* [http://monitis.com/ Monitis]
* [http://trustsaas.com/ TrustSaaS]
* [http://utilitystatus.com/ UtilityStatus]