"It measures the latency experienced by end users of the application and it can really map or split this latency into the different tiers of the infrastructure," Balkansky says.

While the tool is designed to monitor virtualized workloads, AppSpeed can also measure performance of applications in physical servers to determine whether a physical-to-virtual migration will be successful.

This is VMware's "first management product that transcends the virtual," Bogomil says. But the software primary's primary purpose is monitoring virtualized workloads, particularly those using the VMware hypervisor. AppSpeed has some ability to monitor applications virtualized with competing hypervisors, but it is mostly limited to single-tier applications, according to VMware. The company has long resisted managing applications that run on competing hypervisors such as Microsoft Hyper-V or Citrix XenServer.

VMware also introduced vCenter Chargeback, which details resources consumed by each business unit and their associated costs, and automatically creates billing reports that can be submitted to the business unit.

Even if a business isn't using chargeback, the "product is still useful for helping IT and the business get on the same page," Balkansky says. "Customers find it helpful to show the business what it costs the company to support an application or initiative."