'Net Features : gomez

Optimize Web, Mobile and Cloud Apps with Compuware

Linc Wonham — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:30:00 GMT

As organizations become increasingly dependent on business-critical applications, IT complexity has simultaneously exploded. Mobility, cloud, virtualization, Web 2.0, service-oriented architecture and browser diversity have all made achieving performance, availability and end-user experience goals a challenge.

Compuware’s latest release of the Gomez platform strives to address these challenges by expanding performance visibility and deeper analytics across the entire application delivery chain to find and fix problems that originate inside or outside of the data center. The Gomez platform is a leading solution for optimizing the performance of Web, non-Web, mobile, streaming and cloud applications. Gomez aims to provide a unified view from a user’s browser or mobile device, across the Internet or a corporate WAN, in the cloud to inside the data center, eliminating all of the blind spots.

New features in the November platform release include the following:

Mobile Real-User Monitoring (RUM) Conversion Analytics: Enables organizations to understand the relationship between performance and customer conversions for native mobile applications.

Integration With Google Mobile Page Speed: The Gomez Mobile Readiness scorecard now includes scores and recommendations for performance improvements from Google Mobile Page Speed, allowing organizations to assess and optimize the performance of their mobile applications.

Adaptive Streaming Support: Supports Adobe Flash Dynamic Streaming and Microsoft Silverlight Smooth Streaming. Measures characteristics such as the number of times the bitrate changes, the absolute time spent at each bitrate and the percentage of time spent at each bitrate.

Browser RUM User Satisfaction Map: Allows visualization of end-user satisfaction. Organizations can drill down to isolate performance problems by geography to better understand the quality of their real users’ experience by geographic region, page, browser, device, operating system and more.

SAP Application Analysis: Delivers detailed analysis of both thick-client (R/3) and Web-based (NetWeaver) instances of SAP applications, enabling proactive troubleshooting and optimization of revenue-impacting business operations.

Synthetic Monitoring Integration with Code-Level Analysis: Accelerates problem root-cause analysis by integrating Gomez’s synthetic monitoring platform with dynaTrace’s deep application visibility and diagnostics.

360-degree Web Load Testing: Allows testing Web, mobile and cloud applications from the customer’s point of view and resolves problems across the entire application delivery chain, accelerating time-to-market by quickly identifying user-experience performance problems and isolating the root cause down to the line of code.

Compuware, Gomez Introduce New APM Solution

Linc Wonham — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Compuware Corporation has announced a new release of its integrated application performance management (APM) solution called the Compuware Gomez platform.

The new release introduces solutions that aim to help customers increase revenues, profitability and brand equity by optimizing mobile and Web application performance across the entire application delivery chain – from data centers through the cloud, to the edge of the Internet.

This is the second consecutive release Compuware has delivered for its entire integrated APM product set. It is the first release in which all of the Compuware APM products have been rebranded under a single product brand – Gomez – as announced separately. The update includes new functionality in both Compuware’s on-premises APM products (formerly called Vantage) and its software-as-a-service (SaaS) APM products, now all operating under the Gomez product brand name.

New features and capabilities in the Gomez Spring 2011 Platform Release include the following:

• Gomez Mobile Real-User Monitoring: The industry’s first mobile real-user monitoring solution that enables organizations to understand the actual performance end users are experiencing when using native mobile applications or accessing websites from mobile devices. Gomez Mobile Real-User Monitoring provides detailed performance analytics not available in any other monitoring solution. It works for native mobile applications and browsers across any mobile device, operating system or carrier.

• New Gomez Mobile Readiness Assessment: Provides an automatic assessment of the readiness of a website for mobile visitors by scoring the site against a set of standards and suggesting areas of improvement. This allows organizations to rate their mobile application’s capability to run across devices and browsers.

• Gomez Browser Real-User Monitoring: Measures the business impact of poor performance on Web conversions by correlating Web performance with abandonment along each step of a Web transaction. For every step, Gomez Browser Real-User Monitoring measures the number of users who have a satisfying, tolerating or frustrating experience. This aids Web teams in assessing if performance is helping or hurting their Web conversions, which directly impacts their online revenues.

• Integration With Google Page Speed: The first and only integration with Google Page Speed enables organizations to leverage Google technology to automatically assesses web performance against a set of rules, providing a specific score and recommendations for improvement. This allows organizations to optimize their Web pages based on industry-best practices.

• Internet Health Map with Last Mile Data: This free offering from Compuware uses a “collective intelligence” approach to indicate the operational health of the Internet to help organizations determine if a performance problem is specific to them or shared by other users. By comparing the results of the millions of tests that run on the Gomez global performance network every day to a rolling baseline of data for the same weekday and time, the Gomez Internet Health Map detects aberrations that are indicative of a general Internet performance issue at specific geographic locations. Because Compuware has the only testing network with 150,000+ real computers that operate at the “edge of the Internet” running behind local ISPs, the data from this “Last Mile” provides the most accurate insight into the true performance conditions experienced by real users.

• New High-volume Load-testing Agent: In addition to current real-world load generation from browsers and mobile devices, Gomez Web Load Testing now offers a highly scalable HTTP load agent that generates load from the cloud. The new agent enables self-service Web load testing up to millions of page views per hour and can be run in conjunction with the Gomez Last Mile for unprecedented accuracy in user-experience measurement.

• Updated Products for the Data Center: Enhancements to Gomez Business Service Manager (formerly called Vantage Service Manager), Gomez Real-User Monitoring – Data Center (formerly called Vantage Real-User Monitoring), and Gomez Java and .NET Monitoring (formerly called Vantage for Java and NET Monitoring) deliver expanded depth and breadth of visibility in data center performance monitoring.

• New Support for Cisco Unified Compute Server: Compuware has certified and optimized its on-premises software to integrate with and run on the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS). Compuware has a strategic technology integration agreement with Cisco and will be the OEM and authorized manufacturer to sell and recommend Cisco UCS to run all on-premises Gomez APM solutions.

For more details on all of the new enhancements, visit the Gomez Spring 2011 Platform Release Page.

Website Speed Trumps Functionality for Users

Mike Phillips — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT

"When Seconds Count” is the name of a report conducted by Equation Research on behalf of Gomez, released in September 2010. In this study, users were asked about their feelings toward website speed and how it affects their online visitation habits. The results are very interesting and point to the critical nature of website load time. This is important for developers to understand as websites are built, launched and re-launched. In an online environment where users expect deep functionality and offerings (such as streaming video and audio), speed cannot be an afterthought.

Included in their findings:

Nearly one-third (32 percent) of consumers will start abandoning slow sites between one and five seconds.

• 84 percent are only willing to try a slow performing website a few times before giving up.
• 39 percent say speed is more important than functionality for most websites, while only one in five rank greater site functionality as more important.

Speed also makes a difference when it comes to accessing a mobile site.

• A third of all Web users are also using a mobile device to access the Internet.
• More than half of mobile users expect websites to load as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phone, compared to the computer they use at home.

Slow load times are common and users feel frustrated with poor performance.

• Two thirds (67 percent) of users encounter a slow performing website a few times a week or more.
• More than a third (37 percent) said they would not return to a slow site, and 27 percent would likely jump to a competitor’s site.
• For mobile web users, slow website load times and poor formatting are the top two issues encountered on the mobile Web.

Web users have visited sites and not been unable to accomplish their tasks.

• More than 80 percent of users say they have been unable to accomplish their tasks – such as completing a purchase or a financial transaction – on a specific website at least once.
• Nearly half (47 percent) say they have frequently abandoned sites where they couldn’t finish their tasks in the past three months.

“When web users encounter web or mobile site performance problems, their patience and loyalty run thin,” said Matt Poepsel, vice president of performance strategies at Gomez. “However, many companies fail to realize that seconds really do count because their customers refer to best-in-class Web performers like Facebook, Google and Yahoo! as a measuring stick or standard for determining how fast all sites should be.”

Clearly, users are demanding a seamless experience on the Web - your site included. It's interesting to note that speed is considered more important than functionality, according to this survey. Just a few seconds can make the difference between a loyal, repeat visitor and a lost prospect. That makes landing pages a crucial part of the equation. For example, maybe a simplified landing page is best so that users stay on site and start to explore. Then you can direct them to other pages on the site where deeper functionality exists that might require a few more seconds of load time.

The mobile Web also represents a significant challenge. Typically, the mobile device is going to experience a longer load time - meaning that you are already at a disadvantage - even though users expect pages to "load as quickly, almost as quickly or faster on their mobile phone, compared to the computer they use at home." As such, it is important to consider mobile Web visitors when designing your pages. This study presents a solid argument for developing mobile-specific pages of your website. Mobile Web usage is rising quickly and does not appear to be slowing. You've been warned.

Gomez Performance Benchmarking

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:28:00 GMT

Web performance solution Gomez launched a free benchmarking tool that lets IT, Web and marketing teams compare the performance of their website to competitors, peers, or industry leaders.

This is certainly a tool to take a look at, as there is evidence of a direct correlation between website performance and online business performance. An Aberdeen Group report found that sites taking more than five seconds to load reduce customer conversions by seven percent and customer satisfaction by 16 percent. Equally important is how an organization’s website performs versus its competition. The concern is that if your competitor’s website is faster, customers will likely spend more time and money there.

To create a custom benchmark, businesses simply enter their own URL and the URLs of up to four other sites against which they wish to be compared. Within 24 hours, and every day for seven days, they will receive a custom benchmark performance report that ranks the performance and availability of all the URLs, complete with averages, highs, lows and trending information.

“Customer loyalty on the Web is fickle, and even one second can make the difference between making and losing a sale," said Matt Poepsel, vice president, performance strategies, Gomez division. "Measuring Web performance is important, but knowing how your site performs compared to your competitors’ sites is even more valuable. The insights businesses can freely glean from our new custom benchmark tool will be a critical first step towards optimizing their site performance and ultimately, their bottom line.”

Cross-Browser Compatibility Testing Tool

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:27:00 GMT

Web application "experience" management service provider Gomez, Inc., just introduced a free Web-based tool that automatically tests how Web sites look in four commonly-used combinations of browsers and operating systems. After entering a URL, the free Gomez tool returns screen captures of the Web page in each browser/OS combination, revealing content-rendering issues such as missing graphics, function buttons or text. The Gomez Cross-Browser Compatibility Test can be accessed at: http://instanttest.gomez.com

New popular Browsers like Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer 8 and Google Chrome use a lot of client-side processing and have different ways of handling dynamic content such as JavaScript than their prior counterparts, increasing the risk of performance issues for Web pages and transactions. Testing Web application compatibility across every browser type, version and OS however can be time-consuming and expensive, but it's an increasingly important practice you must engage in. While few organizations have the infrastructure or resources to build and maintain their own testing environment, a free tool like that provided by Gomez’s will help identify content-rendering issues.

“Web pages can look and perform differently from one browser to another,” said Eric Schurr, Gomez’s SVP of Marketing. “In today’s economy, businesses can’t afford to risk losing even one customer or one dollar of revenue because their Web applications don’t work properly on a browser or mobile device. Gomez’s Cross-Browser Compatibility Test reduces this risk while also saving time and money.”

Load Testing and Monitoring Network

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:15:00 GMT

Web app experience management-service provider Gomez doubled the number of last-mile measurement points on its ExperienceFirst network to 80,000 end-user desktop computers in 162 countries. In the business of testing and monitoring, that's a massive number unmatched by few, if any.

Gomez' ExperienceFirst network is a global network that tests and monitors the performance of Web applications from the outside-in using four perspectives: end-user desktop computers, Internet backbone nodes, actual users’ Web browsers and a virtual test bed of 500+ combinations of browser and operating systems.

Testing at the last mile exposes how variables like location, consumer-grade ISPs, content delivery networks, connection speeds and computer types all impact the end-user’s Web performance. With over 80,000 measurement points, businesses are able to identify the root causes of localized performance issues like slow-loading pages, missing content and transaction errors, which could jeopardize their revenues, brand reputation and customer satisfaction.

How do you measure the stability and efficacy of your network?
Share by commenting below.

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Load Times Impact Conversion by 7 Percent

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:15:00 GMT

According to a report by Aberdeen Group (sponsored by Gomez), a delay of even one second can impact conversions by seven percent, page views by 11 percent and customer satisfaction by 16 percent.

Aberdeen found the average company achieved 97.8 percent availability for their business critical web applications, which roughly equates to eight days of downtime and arguably lost revenue. Additionally, according to Gomez’s web performance benchmarks for the month of November, 20 percent of the 700+ home pages monitored are at risk of underachieving Aberdeen’s stated 5.1-second response time threshold.

I have found that many organizations have limited understanding of their end-users' online experience. Aberdeen suggests this is because organizations are unable to externally monitor web applicaiton performance and optimize it for multiple browsers, whereas I believe it's an awareness and cost issue. Those that do have the expertise though, according to Aberdeen, are nine times more likely to report decreases to mean time to repair, four times more likely to reduce labor cost as a percentage of IT spend, 88 percent more likely to improve customer satisfaction and twice as likely to improve brand reputation. It certainly sounds like something we should all be watching out for, doesn't it?

“Aberdeen’s new study provides concrete, quantifiable evidence that improving web application performance can positively affect the bottom line,” said Matt Poepsel, Gomez VP of performance strategies. “However, it’s clear that for many businesses across many sectors, there is still a lot of work to be done.”

Gomez and Aberdeen analyst Bojan Simic will co-present a webinar entitled “Best Practices for Web Application Performance – Customers are Won or Lost in One Second” on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

Cross-Browser Testing For Chrome

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:19:00 GMT

Application experience management service Gomez announced that cross-browser testing for Google Chrome and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 is available.

Using Gomez's Reality View XF service, developers can now visualize how new and existing web applications will appear and perform when rendered in the Chrome and IE 8 beta browsers. Best used during app development and deployment, Reality View XF delivers screen captures of how web pages render and load over 500 combinations of browsers, operating systems and devices.

"The recent proliferation of web browser platforms has put many Internet application providers in an unenviable position," said Daniel Golding, vice president and research director at Tier1 Research. "In addition to three different versions of Internet Explorer, two versions of Firefox, and Apple's Safari, now developers must test against yet another platform -- Google's Chrome. That both Chrome and IE8 are in beta -- subject to rapid change -- makes matters worse. Web application developers are in dire need of powerful, web-based software quality assurance capabilities."