The API Revolution and the New Goal of Observability

Introduction: The Market Has Spoken

In Part 1, we established that our traditional network monitoring tools are failing, collapsing under the weight of high-speed traffic and the complexities of the cloud. But this technical decline is only half the story. An even more powerful force is compelling us to change: the market itself. The very vendors who build our infrastructure are fundamentally altering how we access its data, pushing us away from old protocols and towards a new, API-driven world.

This article, the second in our series, explores this inevitable market shift. We'll examine how it forces us to evolve our goals—from simple "monitoring" to the much deeper practice of "observability"—and uncover the new, formidable challenge that this evolution presents: the data silo.

The Tipping Point: How Vendors Are Forcing Us To Choose

The turning point was undeniable at industry events like Interop Tokyo 2025. One after another, major network vendors like Cisco and Juniper took the stage, not to announce new MIBs for SNMP, but to showcase their cloud-based management platforms. The message was clear: the future of network management is not direct device polling, but interaction with a centralized, vendor-hosted cloud platform.

For engineers and third-party tools, the primary method of data collection is no longer SNMP; it is the API. To get performance metrics from a Cisco Meraki device, you query the Meraki Cloud API. To understand the state of a Juniper Mist access point, you query the Mist AI API.

This isn't just a technological preference; it's a strategic shift. It allows vendors to create rich ecosystems around their platforms. For us, the implication is stark and non-negotiable: proficiency with APIs is no longer an optional "nice-to-have" skill for a network engineer. It is now a core competency.

Redefining the North Star: From Monitoring to Observability

This shift in data access methodology coincides with a necessary evolution in our philosophy. For years, we've focused on monitoring. Now, we must strive for observability. The terms are not interchangeable.

Monitoring is reactive. It's about asking known questions and getting predefined answers. We set a threshold—"Alert me when the CPU usage exceeds 90%"—and the system tells us when it's breached. We are watching for problems we already know can happen. The fundamental question of monitoring is: "Is the system broken?"

Observability is proactive and investigative. It is the ability to ask questions you've never thought to ask before. It's about having a system so rich with data that you can explore the unknown unknowns. When a novel problem occurs, you can navigate the data to understand not just that it's broken, but why it's broken in this new and unexpected way. The fundamental question of observability is: "Why is the system behaving this way?"

The Silo Trap: Why Network Data Alone Is Not Enough

With a clear goal of observability, and with APIs providing richer data than ever, it seems we have a clear path forward. However, a new trap emerges. Even if we build the perfect network observability platform, we are only seeing one piece of a much larger puzzle.

Consider the user's complaint: "The application is slow." Is it truly the network?

• Could it be an inefficient database query that is holding up the application server?
• Could it be a specific virtual machine that is starved for CPU resources?
• Could a recent code deployment have introduced a memory leak?

If the network team can only see network data, their inevitable conclusion will be, "It's not the network." The server team, looking only at their metrics, will say the same. So will the application team. This is the silo trap. Each team has a perfect view of their own domain, but no one can see the whole picture. The root cause lies hidden in the gaps between these silos, leading to endless finger-pointing and frustratingly long resolution times.

Conclusion for Part 2 & The Final Piece of the Puzzle

The market has pushed us toward APIs, and our ambition has evolved from monitoring to observability. We have access to better data and a more powerful philosophy. Yet, we've hit a new wall: the organizational and technical silos that prevent us from seeing the complete story. Our perfect view of the network is not enough to solve a system-wide problem.

How do we break down these walls? How do we connect the dots between a network slowdown, a CPU spike, and an application error? In the final part of this series, we will reveal the answer: the power of a unified platform, and the "Aha!" moment that comes from seeing the whole system, at last, on a single pane of glass.