PAM seeks to bring together both the network research and operations communities to consider network measurement and analysis techniques, particularly those in the earlier stages of research.

PAM has in the past focused on research and practical applications of network measurement at Layer-3. However, over the last years PAM broadened its scope to encompass measurements of networked applications, content distribution networks, online social networks, overlay networks, and more. Measurement technology is needed at all layers of the stack: for power profiling of hardware components; at the MAC/network/transport layers; as well as up the stack for application profiling and even to collect user feedback. Measurement technologies are being designed for the digital home, residential access networks, wireless and mobile access, enterprise, ISP and data center networks.

Although PAM traditionally attracts work that is at an early stage, works that are a reappraisal or independent validation of previous results, or which enhance the reproducibility of network measurement research, for instance by publishing new datasets on an existing topic, are explicitly included in PAM's ambit.