
Kentik Network Intelligence Platform
Network monitoring has improved visibility and now detects traffic issues and attacks faster
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for Kentik is to monitor traffic, analyze bandwidth utilization, identify congestion, analyze ASNs, and also for DDoS attacks. For example, we create on the dashboard a folder within the library, in a library, so to speak, our own, for the internal network, with shortcuts all ready. Our query is based only on the interface of our router or the client's ASN.
What is most valuable?
The best features that Kentik offers are the traffic visibility, the dashboard, and the flows that we can change, if we want to see them in pie chart format, in graphs, or just as reports. I think that is a very important part of the tool.
This visualization flexibility helps in my day-to-day work because I can make faster decisions and identify problems, precisely because the dashboard is easy to use and very clear. The reports and graphs are also very important for presenting to the company's board.
Kentik has had a positive impact on my organization in terms of our network visibility because we leave our dashboard on a display screen, where the entire engineering team can see it. Any possible attack we already know about immediately, even before logging into the router or receiving a message from the client. I think it was very important for our SLA, so to speak. With the query that we leave on our main screen, anyone just by visually looking at the screen can check if something is in red, if it is under attack.
What needs improvement?
Kentik can be improved in terms of languages, and visually it could be improved a bit more as well. In this case, by finding a more secure interface, so to speak, or even more customization options so it looks better visually, and also with some space to document the dashboard itself and what it displays.
I think it is really more about making it easier for new users and the reports when it comes to suggestions for improving Kentik, besides the ones I have already mentioned. The number eight reflects what was missing for it to be the highest score; it needed to be a bit easier for new users and have slightly more customized reports. Even though Kentik has reports, I think they could be a bit more customized for those who are just starting to use the tool.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Kentik for about a year and nine months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Kentik is stable in our network.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Kentik's scalability is effective; the platform can handle these large volumes. We have a national-level backbone network, with a large volume of data traffic, uploads, and downloads, and Kentik is quite scalable.
How are customer service and support?
We have never used Kentik's customer support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used another tool called Libre before, and we switched due to it being outdated technology.
What was our ROI?
I believe the return on investment has been mainly time savings in performing troubleshooting.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been limited because I was not responsible for that in my company, but I have spoken with my boss, and he reported that the licensing model could be more flexible.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing Kentik, I did not evaluate other options; none were evaluated.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to other people who are thinking about using Kentik is that it is a very good tool, but I recommend dedicating more time to getting familiar with the tool because, as I mentioned earlier, I think it is a bit difficult for a junior analyst. I gave this review a rating of eight.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazing Observability Platform
Integrating synthetic tests and network monitoring enhances traffic pattern visualization
What is our primary use case?
We are using Kentik mostly for synthetic tests, and from one last year, network monitoring as well.
We are using it for inter DC BGP tests and server monitoring as well.
What is most valuable?
The best part of Kentik is the synthetic test, which we use extensively in our environment since I'm working in a company that uses customer use cases.
It simulates the same scenario that customers use with our products.
It simulates the same things, and we see that the customer traffic pattern, the number of props, is coming from the disruptions on the link, the latency issues, the HTTP errors, and the number of props coming from each hub, which I can visualize to see where the latency is.
What needs improvement?
There's always room for improvements and better relations when using any kind of product.
We faced some issues with Kentik UI and alerting, which we asked them to fix, and they succeeded.
They have come up with a new product called NMS, which had many things needing improvement in the beginning, but they improved it in later versions.
They keep improving their product, but currently, I don't find anything causing issues in our environment.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have experience using Kentik for almost two plus, or three plus years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
The graphical user interface setup of Kentik is easy.
However, if you are setting up the Kentik agents in your environment, you will need the Kentik team's help for setting up the Kentik agents because it requires a number of commands to set up, which people may not know.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, Kentik is good.
We rarely have something that breaks it down, but they have some maintenance windows where they make the product down for reasons such as EMR or EU maintenance.
That happens with every company, but stability-wise, it is good.
I don't find any issues; it was only once that I felt it had some impact, but that got resolved very soon.
Based on stability, I would give Kentik a nine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of Kentik depends on the credits and the packs you have with the Kentik team.
You can scale as much as you can with devices and tests, but you should have a good number of credits in your account, so that is dependent.
How are customer service and support?
The Kentik support team is good.
If you want me to rate them on a scale, I would give them eight.
I had a call with the Kentik support team for fifteen minutes, so I'm going to give them eight for now.
The reason for giving them an eight is that they are good and address our issues.
They have monthly calls and discuss the product roadmap with us, including what is needed and what is not.
However, when we are working on some real issues with Kentik, I sometimes feel there's a delay due to the busyness of their teams.
We faced some outages and were not able to get the desired results from Kentik tools, so that took a little time to resolve.
How was the initial setup?
To some extent, Kentik is easy to use.
It is easy to setup.
It is easy to make it better or integrate.
You can do it by yourself, so I don't find any need for help on setting it up.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would say Kentik's pricing is not cheap.
From my perspective as part of the technical team, I would not categorize it as expensive, but I know it is not cheap.
What other advice do I have?
We are customers of Kentik.
Kentik is worth the money to have as a tool.
We have started using Kentik's AI capabilities.
We are not using it extensively, but they provided us a demo that was great.
We need to start using it more frequently, so currently, we know how to use it, but we are not heavy users yet.
I would recommend Kentik to other people.
If someone is looking for a synthetic tool that can also conduct other tests plus network monitoring using SNMP and older versions, and with them coming up with syslog, Kentik is a central tool for the whole monitoring of the infrastructure.
They can go for it, especially if they are looking for some synthetic tests and want to work with a great team.
Overall, I would give Kentik nine stars.
Network monitoring is improved through multi-vendor integration and effective observability
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
For how long have I used the solution?
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
How was the initial setup?
What was our ROI?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
Client experience and cybersecurity have improved with an easy setup
What is our primary use case?
I compared Kentik with ThousandEyes.
What is most valuable?
The solution is valuable for client experience, especially in the financial sector. The most important feature is cybersecurity. The pricing is good, but the functionality is the most important aspect for clients. The solution is easy to deploy and requires only one person to set up, making it easy and quick. Overall, the ease of use and the fact that it meets client expectations are major positives.
What needs improvement?
The product could strive for more improvements to become closer to perfect.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for one month in a demo environment.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The solution is more Cisco-oriented, which seems to better fit clients with a Cisco environment.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward and easy. It takes approximately two days to deploy.
What about the implementation team?
One person can make the installation, and it is easy and quick.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is good and aligns with the market target.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I compared it with ThousandEyes, which seemed suitable due to a Cisco environment.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend Kentik to others as it is a good and easy solution for clients.
Overall, I would give the solution a rating of nine out of ten.
Powerful and easy to use
Essential tool for Internet Services Product and Network Management
I usually am on there several times a day, just doing pulse checks on traffic flow, or generating updates to particular traffic reports that are tracked on-going.
It's also a good tool for day-to-day study of the network. When there are significant changes to the network infrastructure (e.g.: new PoP, new peer, significant new customer), Kentik enables real-time assessment of the resulting shifts in traffic.
Makes monitoring of operational efficiency an easy process
What is our primary use case?
The solution is used for network monitoring. My clients monitor the performance of networks using Kentik.
What is most valuable?
To find the most valuable features of the solution, I need to drill down into the solution to see how the dashboard captures everything and then look at areas like network monitoring, the switches, and how the product digests the data and consumes them in terms of the metrics.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes, the tool has complications, so we must deal with the additional support from the tool's end. We have the L3 and L4 support, but we have to get expertise in a different time zone, which is a problem.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Kentik for years. My company has a partnership with Kentik and Cisco.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have never experienced any stability issues or downtime when using the tool.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The tool is scalable. It can be used in small, medium, and large-scale businesses.
My company deals with enterprise-sized businesses using the tool.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support helps our company with our queries related to the tool. I rate the technical support a ten out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The solution is deployed on the cloud.
The time required to deploy the product is something that defects on how big an environment is, okay but I know that even for a small scale business, it may take a few hours.
What was our ROI?
Monitoring operational efficiency is easy. The tool also helps manage users' spending and perform analysis, specifically business impact analysis.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The tool is cheaply priced.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Compared to its competitors, Kentik offers tools at a much cheaper price, with a difference of around 20 to 30 percent.
What other advice do I have?
If there is any integration, it will apply back to the source of information that was creating the delay, for example, a legacy system or because the network's configuration is not correct.
My company has not yet used any AI features of the product, but we do plan to use it in the future.
I recommend the tool to others.
I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
Rolls Royce of Network Visibility systems
Who are our biggest data users?
Kentik is the best platform for network management and observation
But what draws the most attention is the speed of querying and reading the collected data.
The tool is very fast. I am impressed with the amount of query I do in a gigantic network (more than 1.6T of external links only) and the result is very fast. I've used several other tools and none perform as well as kentik
This greatly facilitates troubleshooting and traffic monitoring.
Improve publicity in Latin America.