Smart routing has improved uptime and performance and enables real-time automated traffic control
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for IBM NS1 Connect is to improve user experience. It offers smart routing which helps sites to be reliable and performance to get improved. In my organization, the use case was huge traffic and it was very necessary for the system to be responsive all the time.
IBM NS1 Connect is very useful when system demand is very high and more traffic is coming. It's very efficient and gives the best return on investment.
I also use IBM NS1 Connect in managing DNS for the applications with ServiceNow. Low latency and smarter traffic routing are one of its key features that impressed me a lot. This helped to address the automation challenges that I come across when working with tools such as SNOW and needs a reliable service delivery across all environments.
What is most valuable?
The best features IBM NS1 Connect offers, in my opinion, are real-time monitoring, intelligent traffic routing capabilities, and being API driven.
The intelligent traffic routing and API-driven features of IBM NS1 Connect have helped my team by allowing routing based on user location, endpoint switching based on latency, and DNS response time. Additionally, IBM NS1 Connect has API integration.
IBM NS1 Connect positively impacts my organization by making our website load faster and enhancing the user interface to be more intuitive and user-friendly. It's very economical and cost-effective. I also love it because it saves time through automation, saving around 30% to 35% of our time and also saving man-source. Our application uptime has improved by 40% to 45%. Although there have been a few outages, the service uptime has significantly improved our trust with clients. It is very cost-effective and affordable, hence providing a great return on investment.
What needs improvement?
To improve IBM NS1 Connect, I suggest additional monitoring services should be added in the dashboard and DNS timeout issues should be resolved.
Furthermore, the user interface of IBM NS1 Connect could be made more friendly for less technical users to enable easier usage.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working in my current field for the past six years and seven months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
IBM NS1 Connect is very stable. I have not experienced any downtime or lagging.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
IBM NS1 Connect's scalability is very good. It has managed to handle all my organization's growth.
How are customer service and support?
I think IBM NS1 Connect's customer support is great, very responsive, and always proactive, so I do not see any other improvement needed on this tool.
The customer support of IBM NS1 Connect is one of the best I have been able to reach out for. They are very proactive and supportive, available 24/7.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Amazon Route 53. While both IBM NS1 Connect and Amazon Route 53 are DNS services, they differ in focus and strength. IBM NS1 Connect is a cloud DNS service designed for complex traffic routing, application performance, and reliability, while Route 53 is a more general-purpose DNS service offering domain registration, routing, and health checks, often used with the AWS ecosystem.
How was the initial setup?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing of IBM NS1 Connect has been that it is one of the most cost-effective tools and very affordable.
I have seen a return on investment with IBM NS1 Connect, as application uptime has improved by 40% to 45%. It provides a comprehensive solution for managing and optimizing traffic steering, such as dedicated DNS which offers a separate solution network for authoritative DNS, ensuring maximum uptime even in the face of outages. I love it also because it utilizes real-time metrics and automated DNS routing decisions to optimize traffic distribution and ensure resilience.
What about the implementation team?
I purchased IBM NS1 Connect through the AWS Marketplace.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment with IBM NS1 Connect, as application uptime has improved by 40% to 45%. It provides a comprehensive solution for managing and optimizing traffic steering, such as dedicated DNS which offers a separate solution network for authoritative DNS, ensuring maximum uptime even in the face of outages. I love it also because it utilizes real-time metrics and automated DNS routing decisions to optimize traffic distribution and ensure resilience.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing of IBM NS1 Connect has been that it is one of the most cost-effective tools and very affordable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing IBM NS1 Connect, I evaluated other options such as Azure DNS and Cloudflare DNS.
What other advice do I have?
My advice for others looking into using IBM NS1 Connect is that it is very suitable for businesses requiring high application availability, improved performance, and advanced traffic steering capabilities, especially in complex multi-cloud environments, as it ensures maximum uptime. Nevertheless, it's also less appropriate for smaller teams without DNS expertise or those with basic DNS needs where a simpler, less feature-rich solution might suffice.
IBM NS1 Connect has allowed for customizable and easily configurable traffic steering based on factors such as performance, cost, and reliability, thus ensuring optimal application performance, giving more power to the user. I would rate this product a 9 overall.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Smart traffic routing has boosted performance and has saved significant time through automation
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for IBM NS1 Connect is to improve user experience, and it offers smart routing, which helps sites to be reliable and performance gets improved. In my organization, the use case involved huge traffic and it was very necessary for the system to be responsive at all times. It is very useful where system demand is very high and more traffic is coming. It is very efficient and gives the best return on investment. In my organization, we also use it to manage DNS for the application within ServiceNow. Low latency and smart traffic routing are key features that impress me. It addresses the automation challenges that we encounter when working with tools like ServiceNow and need reliable service delivery across all environments. Endpoint switching based on latency is great. DNS response time is perfect.
What is most valuable?
The best features that IBM NS1 Connect offers include routing based on user verification, endpoint switching based on latency, DNS response time, real-time monitoring, intelligent traffic routing capabilities, API-driven functionality, HTTPS redirects, secondary DNS, and API integrations. It helps to connect for external DNS and HTTPS redirects. The ability to have a diverse secondary DNS server is also key. It has been a solid platform for us and we have not experienced any significant issues.
IBM NS1 Connect has positively impacted my organization by providing controlled downtime, reduced downtime, and time saving through automation, as approximately forty to fifty percent of our time is saved through automation and enhanced visibility. The metrics and real-time monitoring are probably the most powerful features. Automation has really saved us time because this tool is able to automate most of the repetitive and time-consuming tasks. We are able to save time because of the automation.
What needs improvement?
IBM NS1 Connect can be improved by providing learning materials depicting flows that can help users who are completely new to networking, which would be great. Pricing can be more transparent, especially when dealing with tight budgets. The user interface is somewhat complex to adapt, especially for new users. It should be made more intuitive and user-friendly. Disposable online videos and tutorials on how to use this tool would be beneficial.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using IBM NS1 Connect for four years and three years and several months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
IBM NS1 Connect is very stable as I have not experienced any lagging or downtime.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of IBM NS1 Connect is highly scalable as it grows with my organization's needs.
How are customer service and support?
The customer support for IBM NS1 Connect is very proactive and responsive twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Google Cloud DNS, and the reason I switched from Google Cloud DNS is definitely because of the automation capabilities and flexibility that it offers.
What was our ROI?
I have definitely seen a return on investment with IBM NS1 Connect as it has given our organization more control and flexibility in managing DNS at a global scale, which almost was impossible before. It has made the process more efficient and at a reasonable cost, saving time, effort, and money. The smart traffic routing is the best.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that the cost can be more transparent, especially for organizations working on a tight budget.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing IBM NS1 Connect, I evaluated other options such as GitHub and ServiceNow App Engine.
What other advice do I have?
IBM NS1 Connect is an excellent traffic management system. It helps us to route traffic based on location, latency, and many other factors. The ability to automate DNS management is a key feature that I love. The metrics and real-time monitoring are probably the most powerful features I have witnessed.
My advice to others looking into using IBM NS1 Connect is that it offers great automation capabilities and flexibility. It provides much more control over how traffic is routed when compared with other tools. The operational efficiency is also great when compared to other alternatives, making it a very recommended tool. It is well-suited for applications where the availability of applications is totally crucial and downtime affects business significantly. It also helps when traffic needs to be routed across multiple regions. However, I would not fully recommend it for small-scale environments or teams that have very little network experience, as they might face complexity because of the vast number of features of IBM NS1 Connect.
IBM NS1 Connect is very suitable especially for businesses requiring high application availability, needing to improve performance and advanced traffic steering capability, especially in complex multi-cloud environments, as it ensures maximum uptime. I would rate IBM NS1 Connect overall at eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
