AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar 11, 2026--
SolarWinds, a leading provider of simple, powerful, secure observability and IT management software, today released its 2026 SolarWinds State of Monitoring & Observability Report1, examining how IT teams are navigating increasingly fragmented hybrid environments, and in turn, how AI is reshaping modern observability. In partnership with UserEvidence, SolarWinds surveyed more than 750 IT professionals managing complex, distributed systems marked by tool sprawl, cross-team silos, and prolonged outages.
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Navigating Complex IT Environments
Key findings from the study identify a critical misalignment between modern IT architecture and the Monitoring & Observability (M&O) tools needed for full-stack visibility. As organizations balance legacy infrastructure with cloud-native architectures, many are discovering their monitoring and observability tools haven’t kept pace.
While these architecture options carry advantages, they can also add complexities to M&O.
Key findings from IT pros include:
“As IT environments grow more distributed and business-critical, visibility is no longer optional; it’s foundational,” said Cullen Childress, Chief Product Officer, SolarWinds. “Unified observability shifts teams from reactive firefighting to proactive resilience, enabling them to optimize performance, reduce risk, and keep the business running without disruption.”
Leveraging AI to Fill in M&O Gaps
Modern IT pros require this complete visibility to command peak efficiency and performance. In fact, almost two-thirds of respondents (64%) said unified observability across all layers of the IT stack is very important to their team’s success.
AI is quickly becoming central to modern observability. 90 percent of respondents express confidence in AI’s ability to improve monitoring and observability operations.
Respondents reported certain benefits from AI assistance in observability, which include cost reduction and faster mean time to resolve (MTTR). The data showed that IT pros are already using AI to:
Despite strong confidence, barriers remain to fully operationalizing AI:
The report outlines recommended steps teams can take to overcome these challenges and strategically integrate AI into their observability practice. Teams should identify where AI can immediately improve M&O tasks and enact strict access protocols for AI tooling. It's also vital for organizations to train and upskill their staff to promote effective and responsible AI use.
“Every organization’s path to full visibility looks different,” said Abigail Norman, Sr. Director of Product Marketing, SolarWinds. “Our platform cuts through the noise by unifying observability across the stack. AI should do more than reduce alerts — it should sharpen prioritization, streamline workflows, and give teams the space to focus on strategy instead of scrambling through dashboards.”
As observability evolves from monitoring to intelligent orchestration, organizations are increasingly prioritizing platforms that unify data, automate insight, and lay the foundation for autonomous operational resilience.
For the full version of the 2026 SolarWinds State of Monitoring & Observability Report, visit here.
Connect with SolarWinds
1 SolarWinds partnered with UserEvidence to survey more than 750 IT professionals across both the public and private sectors from North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East/Africa between November 19 and December 19, 2025. The IT professionals spanned multiple roles including application and/or database management, network operations, and infrastructure (on-premises/cloud).
About SolarWinds
SolarWinds is a leading provider of simple, powerful, secure observability and IT management software built to enable customers to accelerate their digital transformation. Our solutions provide organizations worldwide—regardless of type, size, or complexity—with a comprehensive and unified view of today’s modern, distributed, and hybrid network environments. We continuously engage with IT service and operations professionals, DevOps and SecOps professionals, and database administrators (DBAs) to understand the challenges they face in maintaining high-performing and highly available hybrid IT infrastructures, applications, and environments. The insights we gain from them, in places like our THWACK community, allow us to address customers’ needs now and in the future. Our focus on the user and our commitment to excellence in end-to-end hybrid IT management have established SolarWinds as a worldwide leader in solutions for observability, IT service management, application performance, and database management. Learn more today at www.solarwinds.com.
The SolarWinds, SolarWinds & Design, Orion, and THWACK trademarks are the exclusive property of SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC or its affiliates, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks, service marks, and logos may be common law marks or are registered or pending registration. All other trademarks mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and are trademarks of (and may be registered trademarks of) their respective companies.
© 2026 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.
State of Monitoring and Observability Report 2026
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran targeted the world’s busiest international airport Wednesday and attacked commercial ships as U.S. and Israeli strikes rocked Tehran, while the United Nations' most powerful body demanded a halt to the Islamic Republic’s strikes on its Gulf neighbors that threaten global oil supplies.
The latest attacks marked an escalation in Iran's campaign aimed at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end the war that started 12 days ago. But there were no signs that the conflict was letting up.
The first week of war with Iran cost the United States $11.3 billion, according to the Pentagon, which provided the estimate to Congress in a briefing earlier this week, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. The military reported spending $5 billion on munitions alone in the war's first weekend.
Both sides have dug in, hoping to outlast the other as the conflict upends trade routes, chokes supplies of fuel and fertilizer coming out of the Gulf and threatens air traffic through one of the world’s most-traveled regions.
Iran has targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations and effectively stopped cargo traffic through the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of all traded oil passes.
In response, the International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil, the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the war's effects on energy markets. The U.S. planned to release 172 million barrels of oil next week from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat steep prices.
The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to approve a resolution demanding a halt to Iran’s “egregious attacks” on its Gulf neighbors.
Among the most recent attacks, four people were wounded after two Iranian drones hit near Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates, though flights continued, the Dubai Media Office said. Firefighters extinguished a blaze early Thursday at a luxury apartment tower in Dubai Creek Harbor after an Iranian drone strike.
Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior said Iranian-linked attacks targeted fuel tanks at a facility in Muharraq Governorate, northeast of the country’s capital, Manama, while crews at Oman’s Port of Salalah battled a blaze at fuel storage tanks there, according to the Oman News Agency.
“The international community is resolute in rejecting these Iranian attacks against sovereign countries that are threatening the stability of the peoples, especially in a region of strategic importance to global economy, energy, security and security of global trade,” said Bahrain’s U.N. ambassador, Jamal Alrowaiei.
The 13-0 vote in the U.N.’s most powerful body reflects Iran’s isolated position as it has aggressively responded to Israeli and U.S. strikes. China and Russia — two Iranian allies — abstained from the vote.
Their U.N. ambassadors called the proposal “extremely unbalanced” in not mentioning the strikes against Tehran that began the war.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said it might leave the impression that Iran, “on its own volition and out of malice, conducted an unprovoked attack on Arab states.” Iranian U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said the resolution “deliberately ignores the root causes of the current crisis.”
Meanwhile, more attacks in Gulf countries were reported.
Drones were launched toward the cities of Irbil and Sulaymaniyah in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, while in the southern part of the country, an oil vessel flying the Australian flag was struck near Khor Al-Zubair Port, according to two Iraqi navy officials who also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The official said 25 members of the crew were rescued. It was not immediately clear whether any others were missing.
On Thursday, sirens wailed and loud explosions were heard shortly after midnight in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel. The Israeli military said it was responding with another “wide-scale wave of strikes” in Tehran.
The fallout across the Middle East widened as Israel also struck what it said were targets connected to Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
An Israeli strike hit a car Thursday in Ramlet al-Bayda, a major seaside tourist area on the eastern side of Beirut where dozens of displaced people have been sheltering. Seven people were killed and 21 others were wounded, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for information.
Blasts shook Beirut’s southern suburbs Wednesday, producing fires and plumes of smoke. Israel's military said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah firing dozens of rockets fired simultaneously across northern Israel. It marked some of the heaviest fighting between the two since the war began.
One rocket hit a house near the Israeli town of Karmiel, lightly injuring two people, according to Israeli rescue services.
At least 634 people have been killed in Lebanon since the latest fighting began, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Wednesday.
The U.N. refugee agency said at least 759,000 people have been internally displaced in Lebanon.
Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 people dead. The U.S. has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.
The United States has pledged to keep the strait open and has led intense airstrikes targeting Iran's navy and the port city of Bandar Abbas. The U.S. military said Tuesday it destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the strait.
At least 12 incidents involving vessels around the strait have been confirmed since fighting began, according to two global trackers, and at least seven mariners have been killed.
A projectile hit a Thai cargo ship off the coast of Oman in the strait, setting it ablaze. Authorities are searching for three missing crew members from the Mayuree Naree after 20 were rescued by the Omani navy, according to Thailand’s Marine Department.
This story has been corrected to fix a misspelling of the first name of Bahrain's U.N. ambassador.
Abou AlJoud reported from Beirut. Mascaro reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, also contributed to this report, along with AP journalists around the world.
A man, left, carries the body of his son, Kassem Younis, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, during his funeral procession in the southern village of Chehabiyeh, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Flames rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Children and adults play on swings on the beach as oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A man holds a picture of late Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh beside his coffin as mourners attend the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A mourner holds a poster depicting Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, right, the successor to his late father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, as supreme leader, during the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburb, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Mourners attend the funeral procession for senior Iranian military officials and some civilians killed during the U.S.-Israel campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
FILE - A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji, File)
Rescue workers gather at the site where Israeli airstrikes hit apartments in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People take shelter in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strike, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A man passes in front of a destroyed building that housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a non-bank financial institution run by Hezbollah, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People walk past closed shops at the nearly empty traditional main bazaar in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Motorbikes drive past a billboard depicting Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, handing the country’s flag to his son and successor Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, right, as the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stands at left, in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
