Building the Next Phase of Observability Around Openness, Context, and Action

Observability is entering a new phase. AI is reshaping how teams detect and resolve issues, OpenTelemetry means open standards are the default expectation, and there is growing pressure to connect technical signals to real business outcomes. In this environment, we believe success will not be derived from hype, but from the ability to deliver practical innovation that helps teams reduce complexity, improve visibility, and act faster across hybrid environments.

We’re recognized, for the second consecutive year, in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Observability Platforms, and we feel well positioned to drive better business outcomes for our customers.

Where we believe observability is heading

The conversation is shifting away from “collect more telemetry” toward “make telemetry useful.” In our view, four themes will shape the next phase of observability:

• Open standards and OpenTelemetry. Teams want freedom from lock-in and the ability to instrument once and use that data anywhere. Open standards are becoming a baseline requirement, not a differentiator.
• Unified context. Data becomes more valuable when it’s correlated into a single, coherent picture across the full stack: on-premises, hybrid, and cloud.
• AI with a human in the loop. AI can accelerate detection and triage, but practitioners still need to understand, validate, and act. The goal is AI-assisted operations that make experts more efficient, not black-box automation that asks teams to trust without showing why they should.
• Business-aligned outcomes. Observability earns its budget when it ties directly to availability, customer experience, and cost, not just dashboards.

You need a tailored solution for your business

Market evaluations are a useful starting point. They bring structure to a noisy category and help buyers compare vendors against a shared set of criteria.

At the same time, we believe market-level frameworks can’t fully capture the reality most organizations actually operate in. Many teams are hybrid and will be for the foreseeable future, running critical workloads on-premises alongside cloud-native services, often under strict data-residency, security, or compliance constraints. A model that leans heavily toward cloud-first, APM-centric architectures doesn’t always reflect those needs.

What SolarWinds does for our customers

Some of the options we enable our customers to take:

• Deploy observability the way their environment actually runs. SaaS, self-hosted, or hybrid, without forcing a clean-sheet architecture.
• Unify infrastructure, application, and digital experience monitoring so teams can correlate signals and find the root cause faster.
• Apply AI and machine learning to cut alert noise and surface what matters, while keeping practitioners in control of the decision.
• Connect what’s happening in the stack to the outcomes the business cares about. Performance, resilience, and cost.
• Purchase and provision in a way that works for you. Whether directly from SolarWinds or one of our partners, with presence in 190 countries, we’re ready whenever and wherever your business operates.

Our strategy aligns directly with what we believe our customers need from their observability solution.

The best next step is a conversation grounded in your reality

Analysts  can help you understand the market. Observability platforms can help you collect the right data. AI can help you process it faster. But the   best strategy depends on your environment, your telemetry mix, your architecture, your constraints, and your goals.

If you want to talk through what that looks like for your team, we’re ready.

Book a meeting to discuss your specific needs with a SolarWinds expert. 

Download the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Observability Platforms. 

Source: Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Observability Platforms, [Padraig Byrne,  Martin Caren,  D.B. Cummings,  Neil Young], [13 July 2026].

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