For the second consecutive year, Riverbed was named a Leader and Outperformer in the 2025 GigaOm Radar for Network Observability—positioned in the Innovation/Platform Leader quadrant. GigaOm describes Innovation as “flexible and responsive to market; may invite disruption.” A Platform Play “offers broad functionality and use case support; may heighten complexity.” 

This Radar is a powerful validation of our vision, our execution, and most importantly, the outcomes we’re helping customers achieve. But to us, this recognition is about more than positioning—it’s about progress. It’s proof that Riverbed is delivering what modern IT teams need now and developing what they’ll need next.

Network observability is mission-critical

According to the GigaOm Radar, network observability has become mission-critical in today’s dynamic, hybrid IT environments because it enables organizations to move beyond reactive troubleshooting and gain proactive, end-to-end visibility across increasingly complex network infrastructures. As enterprises embrace cloud, SASE, SD-WAN, and remote work, traditional monitoring tools fall short—lacking the depth, context, and agility needed to detect, diagnose, and resolve issues before they impact users or business operations.

True network observability is not just about visibility, GigaOm emphasizes, it’s about actionable intelligence powered by AI, automation, and seamless data integration. The goal is to empower IT teams with the insights they need to optimize performance, ensure resilience, and deliver consistent digital experiences across any environment. 

Why we believe Riverbed is an Outperformer again

From our perspective, and from our customer’s feedback, Riverbed continues to lead by combining

 innovation, simplicity, and scale across the network ecosystem — from full-fidelity data collection to intelligent automation—to become the most future-forward innovator in network observability today. 

In the past year, we have delivered powerful platform enhancements, including:

1. Unmatched Pace of Innovation

Leading the market, Riverbed introduced 13 major innovations in just the past year, each new capability focused on accelerating outcomes for network operations. From the Riverbed Platform and IQ Ops, to predictive and agentic AI, to Smart OTel and Unified Agent—our rate of innovation is unmatched. We’re not just evolving with the market—we’re driving it forward.

2. Deepest Network Visibility, Anywhere

While many vendors offer partial views into network performance, Riverbed delivers the industry’s broadest and deepest observability. Full packet capture, hybrid-cloud flow monitoring, endpoint-based NPM+ for remote users and SASE and network infrastructure monitoring, leaving no blind spot left behind. We’ve proven it in high-stakes, competitive POCs, consistently outperforming others in speed, data fidelity, and resolution accuracy.

3. AI That Delivers—At Enterprise Scale

AI is the cornerstone of modern observability—but only if it delivers accurate results. Riverbed’s AI engine is doing real work at real scale: 64 million automated remediations and 129 million AI-driven actions annually across customer environments. From causal to generative to predictive and agentic AI, our orchestration is agile and precise, optimizing every step of IT operations. Bring your own LLM or use ours—it’s your AI, your way.

4. Built for Automation, Not Intervals

Riverbed automation is triggered in real time—proactively mitigating issues the moment they surface. That’s why top enterprises and government agencies trust us to cut alert noise by 87% to dramatically reduce MTTR.

5. A True Observability Platform

Unlike point solutions that operate in silos, Riverbed delivers a unified, full-stack observability platform. Network, infrastructure, digital experience, and APM—fully integrated, deeply correlated, and powered by a common data structure. This isn’t just consolidation—it’s transformation. One platform. One agent. One source of truth.

6. Smart OTel™ and Unified Data Architecture

Riverbed Smart OTel™ takes OpenTelemetry to the next level. By curating only the telemetry that matters, it eliminates the data deluge that bogs down IT teams. Better still, it converts third-party data into OTel-compliant formats—bringing structure and AI-readiness to fragmented data sources. Combined with our Riverbed Data Store, we give customers the ability to apply AI without building data infrastructure from scratch.

7. Unified Agent Strategy

Riverbed is the only vendor delivering NPM, DEX, UC, and acceleration modules via a single Unified Agent. It’s a major win against agent sprawl, reducing complexity and risk while easing deployment and patching at scale. Simpler for IT. Stronger for security. Smarter for business. 

Delivering the future of observability

The 2025 GigaOm Radar for Network Observability recognizes Riverbed’s strength, but we believe it only scratches the surface of what we’re delivering. Riverbed is reshaping what’s possible in network observability—making AI real, automation actionable, and visibility complete across the enterprise. No other vendor matches our combination of innovation, execution, and platform depth. 

As IT teams look to consolidate tools, accelerate insights, and prepare for AI-first operations, Riverbed is not only ready—we’re already delivering. Read the GigaOm Radar for Network Observability and see for yourself.