Kentik - Detailed Review
Networking Tools
Kentik - Product Overview
Overview
Kentik is a leading provider of advanced network monitoring and observability solutions, particularly tailored for modern, multicloud network environments.Primary Function
Kentik’s primary function is to provide comprehensive network performance monitoring and observability. This includes monitoring network flow, synthetic testing, and integrating various data sources such as SNMP, streaming telemetry, traffic flows, and cloud logs. The platform is designed to help network professionals monitor, run, and troubleshoot their networks efficiently, whether they are on-premises or in the cloud.Target Audience
The target audience for Kentik includes network operations teams, cloud and security teams, and interconnection managers within large enterprises and service providers. These teams benefit from Kentik’s capabilities in managing and optimizing complex network infrastructures.Key Features
Network Observability
Kentik’s Network Observability Platform offers deep insights into network performance, uptime, and connectivity of SaaS applications, clouds, and services. It integrates multiple data sources for a holistic view of network performance.AI-Driven Capabilities
Kentik AI features include a Query Assistant that translates natural language questions into metrics queries, Journeys for AI-assisted conversational troubleshooting, Probable Cause Analysis for identifying traffic anomalies, and AI Enhanced Insights for correlated data analysis. These features enable users to interact with network data more intuitively and efficiently.Multi-cloud Performance Monitoring
The platform monitors network traffic performance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, ensuring seamless visibility and management of distributed network infrastructures.Rapid Troubleshooting
Kentik’s network map visualizations and AI-assisted troubleshooting workflows help in swift issue isolation and resolution, reducing Mean Time To Repair (MTTR).Proactive Quality of Experience Monitoring
Kentik optimizes application performance by detecting potential issues in advance, ensuring a high quality of experience for end-users.Enhanced Collaboration
The platform promotes seamless coordination across network, cloud, and security teams through robust integrations and collaboration features.Market Intelligence
Kentik Market Intelligence (KMI) provides insights into global routing tables, helping users identify sales opportunities, track competitors’ customers, and make informed decisions about network expansion. KMI classifies AS relationships and ranks transit providers based on IP space transited.Conclusion
In summary, Kentik offers a comprehensive suite of tools that leverage AI, advanced analytics, and integrated data sources to enhance network observability, troubleshooting, and performance optimization, making it an invaluable resource for network professionals managing complex network environments. Kentik - User Interface and Experience
User Interface Overview
The user interface of Kentik, a networking tools and AI-driven product, is characterized by its simplicity, ease of use, and comprehensive functionality.Ease of Use
Kentik is praised for its user-friendly interface. Users find it very easy to see if everything is performing properly or if there are any issues that need attention. The platform provides a simple, at-a-glance means of getting pertinent information quickly, which is crucial for network monitoring and troubleshooting.Interface Layout and Navigation
The Kentik portal is organized into clear sections, making it easy to find the necessary information. The main menu, accessible from the hamburger icon, includes featured areas such as Alerting, Journeys, Kentik Map, Library, and Observation Deck. These sections are further categorized into modules like Core, Synthetics, and Settings, which help users efficiently access information related to specific networking use cases.Key Features and Modules
Interfaces Page
This page lists all the interfaces on Kentik-registered devices, providing detailed information and allowing users to add, edit, or classify interfaces. The interface settings dialogs ensure that users can easily manage interface properties, whether discovered via SNMP polling or set manually.Journeys and Query Assistant
These AI-driven features translate natural language questions into executable queries, enabling users to interact with network metrics data more naturally. Journeys provide a conversational user experience for troubleshooting and network analysis, while the Query Assistant speeds up interactions with NMS metrics data.Data Visualization and Reporting
Kentik allows users to visualize data traffic flow and generate customized reports across various datapoints. This feature is particularly useful for day-to-day network studies, troubleshooting, and optimizing traffic paths.User Experience
The overall user experience with Kentik is highly positive. Users appreciate the granular visibility into network performance, which helps in identifying and resolving issues quickly. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kentik enabled a company to monitor and optimize network performance as the workforce shifted to remote work.AI-Driven Insights
Kentik AI enhances the user experience by providing enriched and streamlined network observability and operations. Features like Probable Cause Analysis and AI Enhanced Insights help users identify contributing factors for sudden traffic changes and provide valuable information from multiple data points and sources.Conclusion
In summary, Kentik’s user interface is intuitive, easy to use, and highly effective in providing detailed insights into network performance and traffic flow. Its AI-driven features and clear navigation make it a valuable tool for network management and troubleshooting. Kentik - Key Features and Functionality
Kentik Overview
Kentik, a leading network observability company, has integrated several key features and AI-driven functionalities into its platform to enhance network monitoring, troubleshooting, and management. Here are the main features and how they work:Kentik AI and Query Assistant
Kentik AI includes the Query Assistant, which leverages a large language model (LLM) infused with network context. This feature allows users to ask questions about their network in natural language, and the system translates these questions into queries that fetch relevant data. This democratizes access to critical network insights, making it possible for anyone, including developers, SREs, and business analysts, to get the answers they need without requiring deep network expertise.Kentik Journeys
Kentik Journeys provides an AI-assisted troubleshooting workflow. It enables users to ask a question, analyze the answer, and then ask follow-up questions to drill deeper into the issue. This iterative process accelerates troubleshooting and expedites investigations by providing contextually aware queries that build on previous interactions.Kentik NMS (Network Monitoring System)
Kentik NMS is an AI-assisted network monitoring system that modernizes network monitoring technology. It unifies traffic flow data with real-time, custom, and streaming device metrics in one extensible SaaS platform. This allows engineers to easily correlate heterogeneous telemetry from distributed infrastructure and rapidly solve problems. The system consolidates advanced traffic analysis and metrics monitoring, reducing the total cost of ownership and improving network operations efficiency.Probable Cause Analysis
This feature, part of Kentik AI, performs on-demand or automatically triggered analysis in the Data Explorer to identify the most contributing factors for sudden traffic changes, spikes, or drops. This helps in quickly determining the root cause of network issues, which is particularly beneficial for resolving customer-impacting problems swiftly.AI Enhanced Insights
Kentik AI provides AI-driven analysis and correlation across multiple data points and sources. This feature delivers valuable insights to users, helping them make informed decisions about their network health, performance, and security. These insights are integrated into various parts of the Kentik portal, making critical information easily accessible.Summaries and Guided Troubleshooting
Kentik AI generates simple breakdowns of complex network issues, along with handy solutions and tips. These summaries are displayed in different areas of the portal, providing quick and actionable information to help users resolve issues efficiently.My Kentik
While not exclusively an AI feature, My Kentik is a built-in feature of the Kentik platform that enables curated, self-service network traffic visibility for downstream customers. Master tenants can create custom, branded content derived from the traffic data Kentik collects, which is filtered to each customer’s specific data slice. This feature helps reduce support and billing caseloads and increases product or service stickiness by providing relevant data directly to end customers.Kentik Data Engine (KDE)
The Kentik Data Engine is a big data backend that ingests and queries network data at massive speed and scale. It supports real-time network visibility, DDoS detection, and peering analytics. KDE handles large-scale data collection and provides access and visibility via the Kentik portal, automated alerting, and SQL or REST APIs. This engine is crucial for the overall performance and scalability of Kentik’s network observability platform.Conclusion
These features collectively enhance the capabilities of network engineers, operators, and other stakeholders by providing real-time insights, streamlined troubleshooting, and improved network management, all of which are significantly augmented by the integration of AI technologies. Kentik - Performance and Accuracy
Evaluating Kentik’s Performance and Accuracy
Evaluating the performance and accuracy of Kentik in the AI-driven networking tools category involves examining several key aspects of their platform.
Performance
Kentik’s performance is enhanced by several features:
- Comprehensive Data Integration: Kentik integrates a wide range of data sources, including SNMP, streaming telemetry, traffic flows, VPC logs, and host agents. This holistic approach provides a detailed view of network performance, enabling better monitoring and optimization.
- AI-Driven Insights: Kentik AI leverages generative AI and large language models to provide immediate answers to user queries about network performance and issues. This allows both experts and non-experts to troubleshoot complex network problems efficiently.
- Real-Time Monitoring and Alerting: Kentik’s Network Monitoring System (NMS) offers real-time monitoring, custom, and streaming device metrics, which helps in swift issue isolation and resolution. The platform also includes features like Kentik Journeys, which accelerates troubleshooting workflows.
- Multi-Cloud and Hybrid Environment Support: Kentik monitors network traffic performance across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, ensuring seamless performance monitoring regardless of the infrastructure setup.
Accuracy
The accuracy of Kentik’s platform is supported by several advanced capabilities:
- Detailed Traffic Analysis: Kentik provides near real-time analysis of flow traffic data, including over 20 metrics such as ASN, geo, port, IP, interface, VLAN, and MAC address. This level of detail is crucial for accurately identifying and addressing network performance issues and security threats.
- Contextualized Synthetic Test Results: Kentik Synthetics integrates test results with the context of actual traffic, offering a complete picture of the network’s performance and health. This ensures that the insights are accurate and relevant to the current network state.
- Advanced Visualization Tools: Kentik’s network traffic visualization tools provide a clear view of the entire network infrastructure, including live network topology maps and detailed visualizations. This aids in quickly identifying network issues and their impact on applications.
Limitations and Areas for Improvement
While Kentik offers significant advancements in network monitoring and observability, there are some limitations and areas where improvements could be made:
- Integration with OpenTelemetry: Kentik acknowledges the limitations of OpenTelemetry in network observability, such as the lack of standards for integrating network data and the challenges related to data semantics. Kentik is working to bridge this gap by unifying different telemetry standards, but this remains an ongoing challenge.
- Data Portability and Standards: The lack of significant progress in standardizing network observability data can create challenges in integrating Kentik with other observability tools. Addressing these standards and ensuring seamless data portability could enhance the platform’s usability.
- Cost and Complexity Management: While Kentik provides flexible output options and manages data complexity, the cost of managing large amounts of network data can still be a challenge. Continuing to optimize cost management and reducing the complexity of data handling would be beneficial.
In summary, Kentik’s performance and accuracy are significantly enhanced by its comprehensive data integration, AI-driven insights, and advanced visualization tools. However, there are ongoing efforts needed to address the limitations related to OpenTelemetry integration, data standards, and cost management.
Kentik - Pricing and Plans
Plans and Pricing
Trial
- Kentik offers a free 30-day trial, allowing users to test the platform’s features before committing to a paid plan.
Pro Plan
- Starting Price: $2,000 per month, billed annually ($24,000 per year)
- Features:
- Network, traffic, device, capacity, data exploration, dashboards, and integration
- Included Flow Per Second (FPS): 1,000
- Network Explorer, Data Explorer, Observation Deck, Capacity Planning, Insights & Alerting
- Full API access
- Dashboards: 50
- API Queries: 50 per hour
- Custom Dimensions: 4
- Populators: 5,000
- Scheduled Reports: 15
- Kentik NMS (up/down, interface statistics, hardware components, routing protocols, streaming telemetry)
- Included Devices: 25
- High Frequency Collection: 250 MPS
- Retention: 13 months
- Metric Explorer (includes Query Assistant)
- Normalized Streaming Telemetry
- Kentik Synthetics: 2.5 million synthetics credits
- Digital Experience Monitoring, DNS Monitoring, BGP Monitoring, Network Path Analysis, Site & Cloud Mesh Testing, Web Testing
- Cloud Performance Analytics and Synthetic Transaction Monitoring.
Premier Plan
- Pricing: Available upon request by contacting Kentik directly
- Features:
- All features included in the Pro Plan
- Increased limits:
- Dashboards: 1,000
- API Queries: 100 per hour
- Custom Dimensions: 10
- Populators: 25,000
- Scheduled Reports: 30
- Kentik Synthetics: 5 million synthetics credits
- Additional advanced features such as enhanced network security, compliance, and more detailed analytics.
Add-ons
- Kentik Protect: DDoS detection and mitigation methods, including Remote Trigger Black Hole (RTBH) and FlowSpec Mitigation.
- Kentik Service Provider Analytics: Subscriber analytics, service improvement, cost optimization, and revenue opportunities.
- Kentik Market Intelligence (KMI): Additional market insights.
- Kentik Firehose: An add-on for advanced data handling.
- Other Integrations: Such as Radware & A10 Mitigation Integration and Cloudflare Magic Transit Mitigation.
Contract and Billing
- Kentik Network Observability Platform editions are available with annual contracts, but multi-year payment options are also offered.
- Upgrades from the Pro Plan to the Premier Plan are possible.
- For additional flows, synthetics credits, or other custom needs, users can contact Kentik to discuss options that meet their requirements.
Kentik - Integration and Compatibility
Integration with Other Tools
Kentik integrates with other tools through API-level connections, enabling comprehensive automation and orchestration. For example, when integrated with Itential, Kentik allows network teams to build automations that respond to events and alarms in real time. This integration enables automated remediation of issues, such as AWS blocked traffic alerts, and automated route optimization changes based on network performance alerts. Kentik also supports integration with various IT systems, including IPAM (IP Address Management), ITSM (IT Service Management), and other sources of truth. This allows for end-to-end process orchestration and automated changes to network infrastructure.Compatibility Across Devices
Kentik supports a wide range of network devices, categorized into two main types: routers and hosts. Routers include hardware such as switches, firewalls, and specific models from vendors like Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, and more. Hosts include cloud resources and utilize Kentik’s kprobe software host agent or other agents like the Process-Aware Telemetry Agent (kappa) for Kubernetes environments. Devices can be configured to send various types of data to Kentik, including flow data (NetFlow, sFlow, IPFIX), SNMP data, and BGP routing data. This data is correlated with other sources like GeoIP and DNS to provide comprehensive insights into network performance.Platform Compatibility
Kentik’s observability platform is compatible with multiple cloud environments, including AWS, Azure, GCP, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). It also supports data centers, Kubernetes (K8s), and internet-based networks. This broad compatibility ensures that Kentik can serve as a unified source of truth for network data across diverse infrastructure setups.Data Export and Integration
Kentik Firehose allows organizations to integrate Kentik data into other analytic systems, messaging queues, time-series databases, or data lakes. For instance, Kentik data can be sent to Kafka services or InfluxDB for real-time and predictive analytics, enabling insights into network events and conditions that could lead to disruptions. In summary, Kentik’s integration capabilities and compatibility with a wide range of devices and platforms make it a highly adaptable and powerful tool for network observability and management. Kentik - Customer Support and Resources
Customer Support Options
Kentik offers a comprehensive range of customer support options and additional resources to ensure users get the most out of their network monitoring and observability tools.Support Channels
Ticket Submission via Portal
The most recommended method is to submit a support ticket through the Kentik portal. Users can click the “Help & Support” button on the main navbar, fill out the Support Request Form with a detailed description of the issue, and select the appropriate type (e.g., Account Question, Product Question, Bug, or Training).
Email Support
Customers can also send an email directly to support@kentik.com to initiate a support request. This method is addressed during standard support hours (Monday through Friday, 3 AM to 8 PM EST).
Emergency Support
For critical issues requiring immediate attention, Kentik provides 24/7 emergency support. Users can contact the support team via phone (US: 844.356.3278, extension 6; International: 1 415.963.9825, extension 6).
Support Levels
Standard Support
Available Monday through Friday from 3 AM to 8 PM EST, this level is suitable for most issues.
Emergency Support
Available 24/7 for critical issues that need immediate attention.
Required Information
When submitting a support request, it is crucial to provide as much information as possible to ensure a quick and effective response. Each concern should be submitted as a separate request to avoid delays.
Additional Resources
Customer Success Team
This team helps with account-related issues, including onboarding, training, feature enablement, and renewals. They are dedicated to ensuring customers get the maximum benefit from Kentik’s products.
Product Support Team
This team assists with issues related to using the product, including bugs and technical problems. They are available to help with both portal and API-related issues.
Kentik AI and Query Assistant
Kentik has integrated AI across its platform, including the Kentik Query Assistant, which allows users to ask questions about their network in natural language and receive detailed answers. This feature democratizes access to critical network insights and simplifies troubleshooting.
Documentation and Updates
Kentik provides access to updated documentation and SaaS service revisions. Customers can stay informed about new features and updates through these resources.
By leveraging these support channels and resources, Kentik ensures that customers can efficiently manage and troubleshoot their network issues, optimizing their network performance and overall satisfaction.
Kentik - Pros and Cons
Advantages of Kentik
Kentik offers several significant advantages, particularly in the realm of network observability and AI-driven insights:
AI-Driven Insights and Troubleshooting
Kentik has integrated generative AI across its platform, enabling users to troubleshoot complex network issues quickly. The Kentik Query Assistant allows users to ask questions in natural language and receive immediate answers, democratizing access to critical network insights.
Real-Time Network Visibility
Kentik provides real-time network visibility, unified monitoring, and visualization. This includes deep internet insights, visibility into network flow, and synthetic testing capabilities, which are crucial for monitoring and optimizing network performance.
Comprehensive Data Integration
The platform integrates various types of network telemetry data, such as flow records, SNMP metrics, streaming telemetry, and cloud flow logs. This comprehensive data integration ensures a holistic view of network performance.
Efficient Troubleshooting
Kentik’s network map visualizations and AI-assisted troubleshooting workflows, such as Kentik Journeys, accelerate issue isolation and resolution. This reduces the Mean Time To Resolve (MTTR) and improves overall network operations efficiency.
Proactive Quality of Experience Monitoring
Kentik optimizes application performance and detects potential issues in advance, ensuring proactive quality of experience monitoring.
Enhanced Collaboration
The platform promotes seamless coordination across network, cloud, and security teams through robust integrations and enhanced collaboration features.
Advanced Security Features
Kentik includes anomaly detection and alert notifications for issues like DDoS attacks, ensuring network security.
Disadvantages of Kentik
While Kentik offers many benefits, there are some areas that need improvement:
API Usability
The API can be complex and not very user-friendly, particularly for non-network professionals. There is room for improvement in the usability of the API.
Cost and Pricing Model
The cost analysis and pricing model of Kentik need refinement. Users have expressed a desire for better cost transparency and more flexible pricing options.
Integration Needs
There is a need for better integrations with network flow and application tracing, especially in hybrid environments. This could enhance the overall functionality of the platform.
Actionable Insights
While Kentik provides anomaly detection, it sometimes lacks actionable insights that could further assist users in resolving issues.
Data Storage
Some users suggest exploring alternative methods for storing local data from strategic providers over time, which could improve data management.
Overall, Kentik is a powerful tool for network observability and AI-driven network management, but it has some areas where improvements can be made to enhance user experience and functionality.
Kentik - Comparison with Competitors
When Comparing Kentik to Other AI-Driven Networking Tools
Several key features and distinctions become apparent.
Kentik’s Unique Features
Kentik stands out for its comprehensive network traffic analysis and visualization capabilities. Here are some of its unique features:
- Advanced Traffic Analysis: Kentik leverages big data technologies and AI-driven insights to analyze flow traffic data, including protocols like NetFlow. This provides near real-time analysis crucial for capacity planning, resource optimization, and strategic network planning.
- Detailed Metrics and Visualizations: Kentik offers a deep dive into traffic flow details, allowing examination of over 20 metrics and various categories such as ASN, geo, port, IP, interface, VLAN, and MAC address. This level of detail is vital for accurately identifying and addressing network performance issues and security threats.
- AI-Powered Insights: Kentik AI allows users to ask questions about the current or historical performance of their networks using natural language queries. It combines network data from various protocols, including flow data, SNMP, streaming telemetry, containers, and cloud flow logs, providing unprecedented visibility into modern networks.
- Integration Capabilities: Kentik integrates seamlessly with other network solutions, including Juniper infrastructure, DDoS services, WAN and SD-WAN edge devices, firewalls, and IT service management tools like Opsgenie, ServiceNow, and PagerDuty.
Competitors and Alternatives
Juniper Mist AI
Juniper Mist AI is another prominent AI-driven networking solution. It leverages machine learning to automate network operations, continuously monitor network performance and user behavior, and proactively identify and resolve issues before they impact end users. Unlike Kentik, Juniper Mist AI is particularly focused on ensuring a seamless and reliable network experience through its Mist Marvis Virtual Network Assistant (VNA).
Cisco DNA Center
Cisco DNA Center is a centralized network management platform that uses AI and machine learning to automate network operations, enhance security, and optimize performance. It features automated network provisioning, intelligent threat detection, and dynamic policy enforcement. While it shares some similarities with Kentik in terms of automation and security, Cisco DNA Center is more focused on centralized management and automated provisioning.
HPE Aruba Networking Central
HPE Aruba’s Networking Central is enhanced with AI features from OpsRamp, providing expanded observability into network devices such as wireless access points, switches, firewalls, and routers. This platform offers more context and networking insights but is more focused on the management of diverse network devices rather than the deep traffic analysis offered by Kentik.
Nile AI Services Platform
Nile’s AI services platform automates network design, configuration, and management. It includes AI-based network design, automated network deployment, and AI-based network monitoring and operations. Nile’s focus is on integrated security, cloud-native service delivery, and AI-powered closed-loop automation, which is different from Kentik’s emphasis on traffic analysis and real-time insights.
Potential Alternatives
If you are looking for alternatives to Kentik, here are a few options:
- SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor: This tool provides real-time network monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities but lacks the advanced AI-driven insights and traffic analysis of Kentik.
- Darktrace: While primarily a cybersecurity platform, Darktrace uses AI to detect and respond to cyber threats in real-time. However, it does not offer the same level of network traffic analysis as Kentik.
- Vectra AI: This platform focuses on detecting and responding to cyber threats but does not provide the comprehensive network traffic analysis and visualization that Kentik offers.
In summary, Kentik’s strength lies in its advanced traffic analysis, detailed metrics, and AI-powered insights, making it a powerful tool for network professionals. However, other tools like Juniper Mist AI, Cisco DNA Center, and HPE Aruba Networking Central offer different focuses and capabilities that might be more suitable depending on specific network management needs.
Kentik - Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some frequently asked questions about Kentik, along with detailed responses to each:
What is Kentik and what does it offer?
Kentik is a network observability company that provides advanced network monitoring solutions. It offers a suite of tools designed for complex, multicloud network environments, including deep internet insights, intelligent automation, comprehensive data understanding, multi-cloud performance monitoring, and proactive quality of experience monitoring.How does Kentik use AI in its network monitoring?
Kentik integrates AI across its platform to enhance network monitoring and troubleshooting. Key AI features include the Query Assistant, which translates natural language questions into executable queries, and Kentik Journeys, which provides an AI-assisted conversational workflow for troubleshooting. Additionally, Kentik AI includes Probable Cause Analysis, AI-enhanced insights, and summaries to make network issues more user-friendly.What is the Kentik Query Assistant?
The Kentik Query Assistant is a feature that allows users to ask questions about their network in natural language. It translates these questions into structured queries that can be executed by Kentik’s query system, providing immediate answers about the current or historical performance of the network.How does Kentik Journeys work?
Kentik Journeys is an AI-assisted troubleshooting workflow that helps users solve complex network problems. It allows engineers to ask questions, analyze the answers, and then ask follow-up questions, all within a contextually aware conversational interface. This process accelerates the troubleshooting and investigation of network issues.What types of data does Kentik collect and analyze?
Kentik collects and analyzes a wide range of data, including SNMP, streaming telemetry, traffic flows, VPC logs, host agents, and synthetic monitoring data. This comprehensive data collection provides a holistic view of network performance and enables detailed insights into network traffic, such as flow protocols like NetFlow, and various metrics like ASN, geo, port, IP, interface, VLAN, and MAC address.How does Kentik handle network traffic visualization and analysis?
Kentik offers advanced network traffic visualization tools that provide a clear view of the entire network infrastructure, including both owned and external segments. It analyzes flow traffic data in near real-time, delivering live network intelligence crucial for capacity planning, resource optimization, and identifying performance and security anomalies.What is Kentik NMS and how does it work?
Kentik NMS (Network Monitoring System) is an AI-assisted network monitoring system that unifies traffic flow data with real-time, custom, and streaming device metrics in one extensible SaaS platform. It combines traditional network monitoring capabilities with modern network observability, allowing engineers to easily correlate heterogeneous telemetry from distributed infrastructure and rapidly solve problems.How does Kentik ensure data privacy and security with its AI features?
Kentik takes several precautions to ensure data privacy and security. It uses enterprise API access to GenAI services, ensuring that information sent to the LLM is not used or retained for further training. Kentik also verifies valid queries, discards responses that don’t fit the expected schema, and executes queries in the user’s context to prevent injection-type attacks.What are the benefits of using Kentik for network monitoring?
Using Kentik for network monitoring offers several benefits, including enhanced collaboration across network, cloud, and security teams, rapid troubleshooting through visualizations, proactive quality of experience monitoring, and the ability for both experts and non-experts to gain insights through natural language queries. It also helps in reducing the total cost of ownership by consolidating advanced traffic analysis and metrics monitoring into one SaaS platform.How is Kentik priced and what packages are available?
Kentik’s pricing model is based on an annual subscription, which includes a platform fee and a license fee for data sources. The subscriptions are offered in two packages: Pro and Premier, each with different tiers of features. Kentik - Conclusion and Recommendation
Final Assessment of Kentik in the Networking Tools AI-Driven Product Category
Kentik stands out as a formidable player in the networking tools and AI-driven product category, offering a comprehensive suite of features that significantly enhance network observability and operations.Key Features and Capabilities
Kentik AI
- Kentik AI: This includes several AI-infused features such as the Query Assistant, which translates natural language questions into queries for faster interaction with network metrics data. Journeys provides an AI-assisted conversational experience for troubleshooting and network analysis, while Probable Cause Analysis identifies contributing factors for traffic changes. Additionally, AI Enhanced Insights and Summaries offer valuable, actionable information to users.
Kentik Market Intelligence (KMI)
- Kentik Market Intelligence (KMI): This tool analyzes the global routing table to classify AS relationships into peering and transit, allowing users to identify providers, peers, and customers for any AS. KMI also provides rankings based on IP space transited by ASes in different geographies, offering a global view of internet traffic flows without the need for complex configuration.
Data Processing and Analytics
- Data Processing and Analytics: Kentik’s platform is built to handle massive volumes of network telemetry data, including flow records, SNMP metrics, and BGP routing tables. It automatically processes raw telemetry to eliminate noise and inconsistencies, ensuring real-time analytics and low-latency insights.
Who Would Benefit Most
Kentik’s products are particularly beneficial for several groups:Network Engineers and IT Managers
- Network Engineers and IT Managers: These professionals can leverage Kentik’s AI-driven tools to gain insights more efficiently and perform advanced analyses without the need for extensive data preparation.
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Digital Businesses
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Digital Businesses: KMI helps these entities benchmark their networks against others, establish cost-reducing peering relationships, and identify new sales opportunities by analyzing transit relationships and customer dependencies.
Product and Marketing Teams
- Product and Marketing Teams: These teams can use KMI to market the connectivity advantages of their networks and track their competitive standing in various markets.
Overall Recommendation
Kentik is highly recommended for organizations seeking to enhance their network observability and operations. Here are some key reasons:- Comprehensive AI Integration: Kentik’s AI features are deeply integrated into its platform, providing a streamlined and enriched user experience.
- Global Market Insights: KMI offers a unique and valuable perspective on global internet traffic flows and AS relationships, which is crucial for strategic decision-making.
- Scalability and Reliability: Kentik’s platform is designed to handle the massive scale of modern networks, ensuring reliable and accurate insights even for the largest networks.