Company Overview
SolarWinds was founded in 1999 by Donald Y. Berth and David L. Berth, headquartered in Austin, Texas, USA. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2009 (NYSE: SWI) and was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2016 for approximately $4.5 billion, going private. SolarWinds is a globally recognized provider of IT infrastructure monitoring and management software, serving over 300,000 customers ranging from small and medium businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises.
SolarWinds' Orion Platform serves as its core offering, providing unified monitoring across networks, servers, databases, storage, and applications. The products are known for their out-of-the-box rapid deployment and powerful scalability, making them a favorite among IT operations teams.
Related provider: SolarWinds Monitoring
Core Products
| Product | Description |
|---|---|
| SolarWinds Orion Platform | Unified IT monitoring platform consolidating all monitoring data and dashboards |
| Network Performance Monitor (NPM) | Network performance monitoring with multi-vendor device support and traffic analysis |
| Server & Application Monitor (SAM) | Server and application monitoring covering OS, middleware, and custom applications |
| Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) | Database performance analysis supporting SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and more |
| Web Help Desk | IT Service Management (ITSM) and ticketing system |
| Security Event Manager (SEM) | Security event management, log analysis and SIEM capabilities |
| SolarWinds Backup | Backup solution supporting on-premises and cloud data protection |
Key Milestones
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1999 | Founded by Donald Y. Berth and David L. Berth in the United States |
| 2009 | IPO on NYSE under ticker SWI |
| 2016 | Acquired by Thoma Bravo for approximately $4.5 billion, taken private |
| 2020 | SUNBURST supply chain attack disclosed, one of the most high-profile cybersecurity incidents globally |
| 2021-2026 | Continued security improvements, expansion of Orion Platform and cloud monitoring capabilities |
Market Position
SolarWinds holds a significant position in the IT infrastructure monitoring market, competing with the following vendors:
| Competitor | Description |
|---|---|
| Datadog | SaaS cloud monitoring platform focused on cloud-native and APM |
| Nagios | Open-source IT monitoring system, one of the oldest monitoring tools |
| Zabbix | Open-source distributed monitoring platform with enterprise-grade features |
| PRTG | All-in-one network monitoring tool by Paessler |
| Checkmk | IT monitoring platform combining open-source and commercial editions |
| ManageEngine | Zoho's IT management suite covering monitoring, service desk, and security |
| LogicMonitor | SaaS unified monitoring platform with strong auto-discovery capabilities |
The 2020 SUNBURST Attack
In December 2020, SolarWinds disclosed a sophisticated supply chain attack (SUNBURST). Attackers breached SolarWinds' build system and injected malicious code into Orion Platform software updates, affecting approximately 18,000 customers. The attack is widely believed to have been carried out by a nation-state-sponsored APT group (linked to Russia), impacting US government agencies (including Treasury, Commerce, Energy departments) and numerous Fortune 500 enterprises.
Following this incident, SolarWinds significantly strengthened its security posture, including implementing strict build pipeline security controls, enhanced code signing and integrity verification, and third-party security audits.
Core Strengths
Unified Orion Platform: Single platform covering full-stack monitoring of networks, servers, databases, and applications
Fast Deployment: Easy installation and configuration, operational within hours
Deep Observability: Rich metrics collection, alerting, and visualization capabilities
Vast Ecosystem: Thousands of pre-built monitoring templates and community integrations
Global Customer Base: Serving over 300,000 customers across all industries
