Cable & Wireless has announced its move into application performance management (APM) services, including a tie-up with Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS).

APM comprises visibility, optimisation, acceleration and application management modules and improves a company's view of its IT infrastructure by showing network performance and identifying problems and solutions.

The services allow businesses to manage applications centrally, reducing the need for software, servers, storage, backup and IT resources at remote locations, while cutting operating and capital costs.

APM services are becoming a major trend, said Jim Marsh, chief executive officer at Cable & Wireless.

“Customer service is our number one priority and, with our global alliance extension with Cisco, our APM solution helps our enterprise customers to ensure their IT systems work as efficiently and economically as possible," he said.

"The APM services market is taking off globally as businesses drive their networks harder and look for greater returns on existing network investments."