Kentik Network Intelligence Platform

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.

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.

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.

I have experience using Kentik for almost two plus, or three plus years.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Positive

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.

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.

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.

Positive

I compared Kentik  with ThousandEyes .

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.

The product could strive for more improvements to become closer to perfect.

I have used the solution for one month in a demo environment.

The solution is scalable.

The solution is more Cisco-oriented, which seems to better fit clients with a Cisco environment.

The initial setup is straightforward and easy. It takes approximately two days to deploy.

One person can make the installation, and it is easy and quick.

The pricing is good and aligns with the market target.

I compared it with ThousandEyes , which seemed suitable due to a Cisco environment.

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.