Its ability to discover the complete networks automatically, capture and store device-specific information and set thresholds so that errors or abnormal behaviors could be detected, have made it a must-have for any organization targeting smooth IT functioning.

There has been an increased intolerance among enterprises towards downtimes and IT failures. Instead of reacting to a problem, their focus remains on proactively addressing networking needs, leading to increased demand for NMS. Thus, apart from base level uptime service for the network, bandwidth management optimization, enterprises are service is now looking for an integrated performance management and application response time services so that the applications are available at a predictable and consistent manner.

NMS is moving from pure play network uptime to integrated service delivery. Organizations are looking towards correlating between different towers of the IT setup and trying to actualize the application availability. Application response time is driving the game. With infrastructure getting more robust, the trend has shifted from network and linkup time to application response time. People are also looking at services management rather than pure play network management.

According to VOICE&DATA estimates, the NMS segment grew from Rs. 526 crore in FY '05-06 to Rs. 709 crore in 2006-07, a 34.8% jump, which is a very healthy sign.