All names and trademarks are intellectual property of Gigamon, Inc. All information pertaining to this study are my own and do not reflect the views of Gigamon.
The Challenge
Planning for Scale and Flexibility
Our goal was to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that allowed users to create network policies by selecting endpoint data used for filtration, augmentation, and/or optimization, which can then be forwarded to network analytics tools for better efficiency.
Our high-level goals were to:
• Design a network policy editor for public cloud networks—the first of its kind in the market
• Include the offering within GigaVUE-FM, the existing management software for network nodes
• Provide a robust analytics engine for monitoring and troubleshooting purposes
MY ROLE
I started this project in 2017 at Gigamon, my fourth year with the company, in which I held a dual-role as a brand and art production manager and individual contributor, consultant, and stakeholder for the UX team.
The overall direction of the solution was a concept that I proposed and supported the design team to prototype.
INSIGHTS FROM THE TEAM
And We're Off to the Races!
Due to the aggressive nature of being first to market, many of our insights and direction were relegated to the advisory of Gigamon’s Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) that kicked off the efforts with the embedded systems team, which included:
Building an agnostic public cloud solution
Our first effort was to create a solution for Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the initial launch and Microsoft Azure for the second launch.
Our first effort was to create a solution for Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the initial launch and Microsoft Azure for the second launch.
Providing a robust method of selecting source data
Allow users to include or exclude various buckets of data for a more fine-tuned selection.
Allow users to include or exclude various buckets of data for a more fine-tuned selection.
Leveraging existing Gigamon data optimization solutions
Gigamon provides a suite of applications called GigaSMART that allows users to filter, augment, and optimize their data to be forwarded to network tools—thereby making them more efficient.
Gigamon provides a suite of applications called GigaSMART that allows users to filter, augment, and optimize their data to be forwarded to network tools—thereby making them more efficient.
Providing tunneling flexibility for varying needs
Allow for one or many tunnel endpoints for any point of the network policy to forward data to consuming network tools.
Allow for one or many tunnel endpoints for any point of the network policy to forward data to consuming network tools.
Allowing users to quickly understand the impact of the policy
Display the impact of the network policy on the entire network so that users can review prior to deployment or troubleshoot after deployment.
Display the impact of the network policy on the entire network so that users can review prior to deployment or troubleshoot after deployment.
DEEPER INSIGHTS
UNEARTHING COMPLEXITY
As we explored solutions, it became clear that there were a couple other challenges that needed to be addressed, which include:
Visualizing big data
Public cloud instances scale based on demand and can grow to 10s of 1,000s in quantity and need a simple method for management.
Public cloud instances scale based on demand and can grow to 10s of 1,000s in quantity and need a simple method for management.
Preserving a logical flow
Maintain an intuitive, customizable flow to easily understand each point of the network policy.
Maintain an intuitive, customizable flow to easily understand each point of the network policy.
MARKET INSIGHTS
Business Value: The SKY'S the Limit
The disruption in the networking market led by public cloud networks have an indirect impact on many providers that offer solutions for traditional network architecture models. To understand the value and importance of releasing the first solution to allow users to gain more control over their network and increase responsiveness, we begin by listening to the street's forecasts.
Worldwide Public CLoud Services Revenue Forecast (Billions of dollars)
OCTOBER 2017
Source: Forbes Cloud Computing Market Projected To Reach $411B By 2020 as per Gartner report, Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Services Revenue to Reach $260 Billion in 2017. October 12 2017.
The explosion in street forecasts for public cloud networks and related technologies have tremendous potential for growth. With an annual growth of nearly 300% over the course of five years, Gigamon, a cloud system infrastructure service, recognized the importance of being first to market in order to solidify their leadership in the space.
Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) by Cloud Service Category, 2016-2020
Worldwide Public Cloud Services Revenue Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)
Worldwide Public Cloud Services Revenue Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)
OCTOBER 2017
Source: Forbes Cloud Computing Market Projected To Reach $411B By 2020 as per Gartner report, Forecasts Worldwide Public Cloud Services Revenue to Reach $260 Billion in 2017. October 12 2017.
Annual growth for cloud system infrastructures also lead among other technologies that support public cloud environments. As a leader in the market, Gigamon must provide a solution to maintain their position and was the next logical step for the business. And through Gigamon's services many of the other technologies that support public clouds are also enhanced as a result—specifically cloud application services and cloud management and security services.
Concerns Felt by Respondents with Regard to Public Cloud
JUNE 2017
Source: 451 Research Can Private Cloud Be Cheaper than Public Cloud? 41% Said Yes, and the Survey Reveals How. June 2017.
By providing a better means for quicker responsiveness to performance and security issues, Gigamon also indirectly provides confidence to prospects that look to deploy public cloud networks, but have trepidation due to the loss of control and management from a public cloud that is not directly managed by internal staff.
CUSTOMER EMPATHY
LESSONS FROM ANOTHER ROLE
As a brand and art production manager, I was often tasked with creating network architecture diagrams for various use cases for use in educating new prospects and were also common practices for customers to manage their own network deployments. When creating public cloud solutions, I was able to understand the challenges of varying deployments that would be used for the product and coincidentally began to solve for an agnostic, visual language.
2017
Design by me.
I first began creating network diagrams for a variety of use cases for AWS and already began to migrate AWS icons into a Gigamon look and feel, which would prove helpful for the product proposal.
2017
Design by me.
I then moved onto similar use cases for Microsoft Azure, which would later adopt the previous visual language following an approval of direction.
2017
Design by me.
And lastly, I began to explore a new branding refresh that used color to quickly show the impact of Gigamon and further genericized AWS and Microsoft Azure icons for intuitiveness and reduces design debt. Though this practice was used for marketing purposes, the project helped me to gain an understanding that would help me propose an agnostic concept, which was a primary goal of the project.
The solution
GigaSECURE® for the Public Cloud
In a world plagued by security breaches, Gigamon provides customers a means for agile response to network performance and security governance and remediation with the first-to-market Security Delivery Platform for AWS public cloud environments.
Designed by me.
CREATE AND EDIT NETWORK POLICIES
Users can create, edit, and manage their network policies through a WYSIWYG interactive canvas.
Providing users with the flexibility to create multiple monitoring sessions allows network and security operators the ability to have different traffic streams for different methods of analyzing data for use in responding to network performance, management, optimization, and security.
ANALYTICS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Analytics that visualize the impact of the network policy are provided.
Additionally, analytics for one or many points of the policy are also provided based on user selection.
CLICK AND DRAG COMPONENTS LIBRARY
Components, which include source data, Gigamon GigaSMART applications, and tunnel endpoints can be selected for use in a network policy by simply clicking and dragging them onto the canvas.
Users can simply click and drag components onto the application's canvas to build their monitoring session. Assets are divided by category, which can be expanded or collapsed for ease in management.The primary benefit of using GigaSECURE is to leverage the power of GigaSMART applications (displayed under the applications category), which is a suite of network traffic intelligence applications for data filtration and optimization.
FLEXIBLE SOURCE DATA SELECTION
Source data can be included or excluded to provide a robust selection method. A simple example would be to include all video data, but to exclude YouTube data.
This can prove to be powerful by allowing users to select a large sample size and include or exclude specific maps that may exist within or outside of their selections displayed on the application canvas. An example of exclusion maps would be selecting all video traffic on the canvas, but excluding YouTube traffic within the exclusion maps section.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR IMPACT FROM THE TOP DOWN
A visual representation of the impact of the entire network allows users to review their policy’s impact prior to deployment or to help troubleshoot issues. Instances can be found at the bottom of the topology in bucketed quantities to make big data more manageable.
Instances can further be drilled down to individual instances for more detailed information.
THE Ideation PROCESS
All Starts with a Blank Canvas
Our team started the ideation process through an exercise of design charrettes.
Sketch by me.
My concept was highly influenced by my background in creating network diagrams combined with concepts from flow chart editors and would go on to be a large representation of the final proposal.
The Framework
Orange is the New Black
The Public Cloud feature needed to go beyond just an interactive canvas. We also needed to build a variety of asset repositories as well as isolated views, which were common patterns and mental models that our customers had become accustomed to as well. Below are a few examples of the wireframes that we had developed in our initial concepts:
Monitoring Sessions FTU
List View Management of Assets
Canvas Editor with Topology View Showing Impact
Ability to Drill Down to Individual Instances
Individual and Holistic Reporting
Initial Concept of Monitoring Sessions Display that Visualizes Data Volume
Topology Full View with Filtering Functionality
Topology with Hoverable Information
After a series of design reviews and iterations, we were able to gain internal validation in order to move onto our hi-fidelity prototypes. Because this solution was the first of its kind and the goal was to deliver first-to-market with heavy competition, we needed to move forward without user testing at this time.
Design by Julie Huynh, UX Designer at Gigamon, in collaborative effort with me.
Leveraging many of our existing components and patterns, we were able to prototype rapidly. During this phase, we also explored another method to manage components in a tree-like structure (shown above), but later moved back to the original concept as it provided too much flexibility and created too much complexity as a byproduct.
Post-launch Enhancements
A SMARTER NETWORK RESULTS IN INFORMED DECISION MAKING
Further enhancements post-launch occurred following my departure, but stands as a testament as to how well the initial concept was able to support additional features, which allowed users to pass or drop specific data streams, show inactive statuses for components, provide a cleaner representation of the components library, and display more details of the network topology. By providing these additional layers of information, users have more capabilities to dig deeper into their network policies and be more informed prior to making any deployment changes.
KEY RESULTS
MAINTAINING MOMENTUM
The product launch proved to be a successful endeavor and motivated the team to further extend the solution in order to secure the leading position in the market. Here are some of our successes through the release:
$96M in revenue after 18 months from launch
(includes all node, software, and hardware-related sales)
Solution extended for Microsoft Azure in 2018