Cloud computing is changing the game for one of the hardest problems in IT: running a network. Users are counting on fast, secure access more than ever, even as networks get more complex and threats more dangerous. Often, there’s a lot of data available about the state of a network and its performance, but more data by itself can’t solve a problem. So startups are turning to the growing power of the cloud for answers. Nyansa, based in Silicon Valley, emerged from stealth mode on Monday with Voyance, a cloud-based SaaS (software-as-a-service) offering that analyzes inputs from wired and wireless LANs to gauge users’ actual experiences on a network. The company’s launch follows one earlier this month by Veriflow, a cloud-based startup that analyzes all possible data flows to determine whether security policies are working. It’s a broader trend, too, with companies like Dell taking their systems management software into the cloud. Voyance uses software to analyze traffic on a company’s network and generate metadata, which it analyzes in Amazon’s VPC (Virtual Private Cloud). It correlates data from all networks using Voyance to provide benchmarks and insights, which appear on a dashboard for IT administrators. The feedback includes reports about problems, recommendations for how to resolve them, and insights into the potential effects of events like adding new applications. For example, if a new driver on a certain device OS has disrupted the networks of other companies, Voyance can put out a global alert and also warn you if it’s detected that issue with devices on your network, said Anupam Singh, director of IT network, telecommunications and security services at Suffolk University in Boston. Using Voyance is much better than looking at inputs from multiple monitoring applications for different vendors and parts of the network, as Suffolk used to do, Singh said. In the past, engineers might have spent hours scratching their heads over a problem caused by one bad driver
