How many of you still use Windows 3.1x to power your business?

How many of you use a Macintosh with a PowerPC Microprocessor?

Do you remember O.J. Simpson running from the police?

Best of all..did you attend Woodstock ’94?

I bet some of you are wondering what all of this has to do with monitoring huh?  It’s simple really, how old is your monitoring software?  What framework and how old is the technology it was  built on?  In the last 15 years have the folks who built the first monitoring piece of software completely dismantled it and started over or have they acquired other pieces only to add on to the existing framework?

I hear the words “future proof” a lot and wonder if what has been built and touted as the best of the best by analyst firms really has what it takes to call itself future proof.  One can argue that some of the best built houses are 40+ years old, but eventually they have to be gutted and remodeled in order to keep pace with the times.  Adding another layer of paint will not always get you the selling price you want.

Take a look around for a moment. There are plenty of companies out there who have built capable monitoring solutions in the recent years.  Most have built their solutions on technology that can scale quickly and offer limitless possibilities for the future.  Some can deploy quickly and offer a rapid ROI or even a cash flow positive return upon investment.  When Google came around, everyone thought they were crazy and saw no sustainable business model and you know the rest of the story.

I like nostalgia and love talking about the old days…but I wonder if those ideas or technologies belong in the modern day monitoring world.

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