What is our primary use case?
I am a running consultant for ThousandEyes, and as a consultant, I have to perform the build case as well as running on capacity management, as well as the end-to-end connectivity monitoring through ThousandEyes.
I am working on multiple customers currently. For some customers, I have to build ThousandEyes agent on end-to-end agent or Enterprise agent, and I have to build those and run the test on those agents so that I can monitor the customer network. For other customers, I have to try to identify the incident raised by the customer CSM or something similar, and I try to find out the RCA for those incidents.
Apart from these two use cases, I have to manage the users as well, creating the users, managing the users, and to update the certificates and other items on ThousandEyes portal for the customers.
What is most valuable?
In comparison to others, ThousandEyes is having several features, but the most features that I am using are the Enterprise agents where we used it the most, and Path Visualization is another feature that we used for troubleshooting as well. Apart from this, the endpoint agent needs to be configured, and I try to find out how these endpoint agents work on the system of customer devices.
When we are troubleshooting, in our earlier scenario, we had to take a lot of time to try to find out where the issue is and what the issues are because in regular troubleshooting, when doing the ping and trace route, we had to find out where the issue is and how we could fix it. In ThousandEyes, ideally, we got all these things in one shot. In Path Visualization, we have the hop-to-hop information so that if something is stuck somewhere, the red button is shown there, so we can find out that the issue is there. This also gives us the identification of that particular item, and if I talk about the IP address, we have that, and then we can try to find out or we have to contact with the ISP or something similar. If there is an issue with the ISP, then we have to catch up with the ISP if there is any issue at that particular time, and then we can interact with them.
All the features are good, and ideally, we are using these two features currently with our customers. Another feature that I know about is Internet Insight, where we have the information regarding the outages, and where the issues are mentioned in that particular part.
ThousandEyes actually advanced the troubleshooting part and the monitoring of the devices, or I would say the management of the devices with monitoring and to identify the root cause. It was very helpful in that sense because I am working on multiple customers, so for every customer, we use ThousandEyes. If we do not use ThousandEyes, then it was very difficult for us to understand where the issue is, how to identify those issues, and how we can drive the RCA on those customers. Another thing that I think is very beneficial in the current scenario is the AI assistance of ThousandEyes, which helps us to identify the root cause analysis.
What needs improvement?
I think ThousandEyes could include some other devices or servers and that kind of monitoring capability which currently ThousandEyes is not using. Additionally, something related with the security would be beneficial. If they include the security part as well in terms of monitoring, then it would be good.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using ThousandEyes since 2021.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
ThousandEyes has been stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
ThousandEyes is working fine and is excellent in terms of adding the devices or adding the agents and adding the test based on the licenses that we have. It is capable enough to be scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support from ThousandEyes was good. Whenever I raise the queries, I got the prompt answer on that as well as the solution that we needed. I received that kind of support from ThousandEyes.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before ThousandEyes, we worked on some other solutions including Riverbed and Ipanema Infovista at that time, and those were more on hardware-based and they were not providing that kind of capability in terms of the application because we used Riverbed before 2021. Then we switched over from those products to ThousandEyes or LiveNX or that kind of products, because of the capabilities that ThousandEyes and other products provide in terms of cloud-based solutions and SASE part of these solutions. Additionally, they are providing much more visibility in terms of the network and end-to-end visibility.
How was the initial setup?
Currently I am not actually dealing with licensing and something similar because that was done by the presales team, but whenever I raise the queries with the team, I got the response from them, and that is good.
What about the implementation team?
I am not the right person to answer this question because I am a consultant. As a consultant, I usually am on the customer's run side, so the impact should be there. A positive impact should be there in terms of the customers in that they are very happy when they are using ThousandEyes right now, and earlier, they had multiple issues with the teams. That is the part where we can say that ThousandEyes is working effectively.
In terms of ROI, I am not aware of that because I have not calculated that right now, so it is quite difficult for me to say anything on that part. The time and employee part is very good and is up to the mark.
What was our ROI?
I am not the right person to answer this question because I am a consultant. As a consultant, I usually am on the customer's run side, so the impact should be there. A positive impact should be there in terms of the customers in that they are very happy when they are using ThousandEyes right now, and earlier, they had multiple issues with the teams. That is the part where we can say that ThousandEyes is working effectively.
In terms of ROI, I am not aware of that because I have not calculated that right now, so it is quite difficult for me to say anything on that part. The time and employee part is very good and is up to the mark.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Currently I am not actually dealing with licensing and something similar because that was done by the presales team, but whenever I raise the queries with the team, I got the response from them, and that is good.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We used ThousandEyes as well as we used LiveNX, LiveSP, and some other products as well, though I am not remembering the names.
What other advice do I have?
The advice to other customers for using ThousandEyes is that if it suits your environment in terms of monitoring and visibility purpose, and you have enough budget for that, then go for it. I think it would be good in terms of the Enterprise agent, in terms of end-to-end visibility, in terms of Path Visualization, in terms of Internet Insight. All the features are very good, and it has the capability to reduce your operational expenses and increase the efficiency in terms of operations. It would be excellent. I would rate this product a 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?