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.

I have been evaluating Kentik against other tools to see what it can provide differently. Primarily, I have used it for network monitoring, specifically in multi-vendor environments. I have also found it valuable for data center use cases, particularly in troubleshooting network traffic flow problems.

One of the most valuable features of Kentik, especially for service providers, is its ability to visualize all the BGP peering and the status of the BGP peering platform. This visualization feature is powerful for network monitoring and tracking peering BGP connections. Additionally, Kentik excels in telemetry within data centers and works well in multi-vendor environments. It's effective in terms of observability and is better than other vendor tools that might struggle in this area.

In recent months, I've noticed that while the industry is trending towards AI, Kentik has room for improvement in this area. Specifically, more work is required to integrate AI for troubleshooting, simplifying root cause analysis, and providing suggested solutions for network issues. Although Kentik has a market presence, it lags behind Selector AI, which is a leader in integrating AI to support network operations.

I have had a couple of years of experience with Kentik.

The deployment of Kentik is very straightforward. If you are keen on following instructions, you can complete the setup with ease.

Kentik is quite stable, especially in lab environments. Dimensioning of the platforms is key, but it's not an issue in lab environments. In production, however, dimensioning of the underlying platforms is something to be mindful of.

More than scalability itself, Kentik's integration with Kubernetes makes scaling easier. This aspect is very good.

I have mostly used forums for any support needed because the setup is straightforward and the documentation is quite good.

Positive

The initial setup of Kentik is very straightforward. With proper instructions, you can complete it successfully. Setting it up in lab environments typically takes a few hours.

Calculating ROI is not a simple formula; it varies on a case-by-case basis. However, in production environments, especially for service providers on IP networks and data centers, Kentik helps in reducing the time to identify and resolve issues. It shortens the investigative cycles and provides the right information for quick resolution. However, improvements could be made with the integration of AI for even better efficiency.

Kentik’s pricing is competitive in the marketplace. It depends on the sizing, and once you have the right sizing, it's usually okay.

Currently, I am evaluating Selector tools for service providers, specifically for their SD-WAN monitoring capabilities. Selector has an advantage due to their extended time working on AI, which is beneficial for providing monitoring interfaces for customers.

Kentik is a very decent product, especially at its price point for regions like Latin America. It provides compelling value for its cost and is a good product overall. However, it would benefit from more engineering efforts in sizing to ensure precise approximation. I would rate the overall solution in the range of eight to nine out of ten.

Other

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.

Other

The solution is used for network monitoring. My clients monitor the performance of networks using Kentik.

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.

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.

I have been using Kentik for years. My company has a partnership with Kentik and Cisco.

I have never experienced any stability issues or downtime when using the tool.

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.

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.

Positive

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.

Monitoring operational efficiency is easy. The tool also helps manage users' spending and perform analysis, specifically business impact analysis.

The tool is cheaply priced.

Compared to its competitors, Kentik offers tools at a much cheaper price, with a difference of around 20 to 30 percent.

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.

Kentik is used to visualize Internet connectivity, particularly for network connections. It's an "as-a-service" solution.

We have clients such as NTT and KDD, major telecom providers in Japan.

I believe the company is satisfied with the product, but there have been some changes and challenges. 

Kentik primarily addresses the need for information from NetFlow data. It offers a simple yet powerful feature of classifying applications, going beyond basic statistics. There is more focus on track ID and basic static applications.

Before using this solution, there was a lack of good visibility. So, our clients had to use workarounds to gain insights. With Kentik, they have better planning and programmability in the network.

The flexibility for creating reports and gaining more visibility. Also, the ability to monitor network performance is the most valuable feature.

Customers usually need more information to effectively use this solution. So, simplifying it could be an area of improvement.

Moreover, I consider the pricing model as an area for improvement. The product is expensive. It could be more cost-effective.

I started studying Kentik as part of my job to prepare a proposal for the customer. So I was familiarizing myself with the product. It's been six years and the customer is still with the solution. 

We mainly used Arbor. And also, we worked with local vendors in Japan and China as well. Basically, when we work with customers, we choose the product based on their requirements.

Arbor required big appliances at that time, whereas Kentik was more advanced and software-based.

The initial setup can be complex. The installation process is unique, based on a container-like environment. While we offer it as a service, some customers choose to deploy it on-premises. In those cases, we replicate the container environment at the customer's site, which requires a thorough installation process. This process may involve configuring the server and potentially programming it.

Customers need to have a big budget for this product. It can be quite expensive.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

On-premises