Monitoring is "a fundamental need" for modern network management, according to Kindness.

"I think that's why ... they bought a company that had the capability for Layer 2 to Layer 7 visibility and management in that area," he says.

EMA Managing Research Director Jim Frey says that the deal gives Riverbed a uniquely diverse and complementary set of capabilities.

"The one thing that's really kind of unique about this is that Riverbed has, already, beyond the [monitoring and management] Cascade tools ... they also have the active optimization side of their business. In particular, they have an ADC ... called Stingray, which, when they put this deep and rigorous monitoring and troubleshooting capability for applications together with the optimization products that are represented by Stingray -- that's a pretty unique combination. No other vendor right now has all that under one brand name," he says.

The key to making the deal a success, according to Frey, will be effectively blending the two companies' offerings.