Network performance vendor NetQoS has launched a unified communications (UC) monitor add-in, which gives application response times and network traffic analysis statistics and adds support for Microsoft Office Communications Server and Cisco IP telephony deployments.

Announced at the VoiceCon enterprise communications forum in San Francisco, UC Monitor 2.0 integrates with the firm's Performance Center to provide better monitoring of Microsoft and Cisco environments, according to NetQoS.

Jim McQuaid, director of product management at NetQoS, said that the company had indentified a move towards performance management in its customer base. He also pointed out that the Cisco management tools are an additional cost over and above the basic configuration tools.

"We have customers who felt that Cisco's tools were not as easy to use as ours, and we are seeing plenty of firms who have invested in Cisco but have a lot of Microsoft software installed. People are deploying Office Communications Server, sometimes almost surreptitiously, but in many cases it is planned," he said.

McQuaid believes that it is better to use a single tool than two tools from different vendors "neither one of which connects to your other networks".

Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president of enterprise and enabling technologies at analyst firm Yankee Group, said, "The complexity of presence, voice and video on your IP network demands that network management tools present a unified view of the performance of these applications."

NetQoS UC Monitor can also automatically investigate Cisco environments for user-reported call quality problems, as well as proactively monitor and notify firms of call server problems.

The system also offers enhanced support for managed service provider environments and large distributed enterprises, allowing grouping of locations and data according to geographic or functional characteristics.