1. A system comprising: at least one instrumented core responsiveness element external to at least one application, the instrumented core responsiveness element configured for operation on at least one processor and further configured to provide at least one response event to a performance monitor, the at least one response event comprising data representative of operational performance of the at least one application; and the performance monitor configured for operation on the at least one processor, the performance monitor further configured to: receive a plurality of response events from the at least one instrumented core responsiveness element; process the plurality of response events; and provide a notification based on the processing of the plurality of response events, the notification identifying that the at least one application failed to meet a performance criterion.