Lexington, Massachusetts, April 21, 2009 — Gomez, Inc., the leader¹ in web application experience management, today announced new capabilities for testing, monitoring and benchmarking the performance of mobile Web sites, mobile applications and SMS services. The new capabilities are an expansion of Gomez’s on-demand suite designed to help businesses meet customers’ expectations for great online experiences, whether they use a PC or a mobile device to connect to the Web. For businesses with a mobile Web strategy, Gomez’s new “One Web” approach will offer:

• A unified view of the performance of both the fixed and mobile Web.
• The unique ability to identify, diagnose, prioritize and resolve performance issues, whether they are specific to the mobile Web, specific to the Web, or common to both.
• Operational efficiencies by leveraging common metrics, reporting, best practices and skills from existing investments in Web experience management services.

“The mobile Web is a much more uncontrolled and unpredictable domain than the classic Web. Monitoring and metrics will be essential for any organization wanting to understand and assure mobile application performance,” said Nick Jones, VP & Distinguished Analyst, Gartner, Inc.

Performance and experience issues can occur at multiple points in the highly-complex Web application delivery chain — behind the firewall, in the cloud, via third parties, ISPs and wireless carriers, as well as on end-users’ PCs and mobile devices. Gomez’s new capabilities will help businesses pinpoint and resolve these issues during the testing and production stages of a mobile Web application, and will comprise:

• The industry’s only mobile monitoring solution that includes:
  • An active monitoring service that tests and measures the performance of mobile websites, applications and SMS services by simulating feature phones and smartphones running on major US and international wireless carriers. The service will run scheduled tests around the clock, delivering alerts when issues arise, with granular reports that pinpoint root causes.
  • Real-user (passive) monitoring that precisely captures and tracks which mobile devices, browsers, operating systems, wireless carriers and ISPs are being used by actual smartphone users to access fixed and mobile Web sites. Real-user monitoring helps businesses understand how their Web and mobile Web sites truly perform for real-world smartphone users and the impact of performance on users’ behaviors, like abandoning a conversion or a search. By understanding which user segments are truly affected by performance issues, businesses can prioritize decisions about investments and remedial actions.
• Compatibility and load testing services to ensure that content renders well across mobile devices, browsers and operating systems, and to measure the impact of load on the mobile experience. These services reduce testing time and costs while increasing the quality of smartphone user experiences.
• New first-of-their-kind Mobile Web Experience Benchmarks that measure five critical dimensions of success on the mobile Web, helping businesses understand how well they perform on the mobile Web relative to their competitors (see related announcement: “Gomez and dotMobi Launch First Benchmarks That Measure Five Critical Dimensions of Success for Mobile Web Sites” at http://www.gomez.com/news_events/releaseview.php?prid=142.)

“As smartphone popularity grows, so do users’ expectations for fast, quality mobile Web experiences. Yet Gomez’s mobile benchmarks launched today reveal that mobile Web sites perform 30 percent slower than computer-based Web browsing,” said Arthur Mateos, VP and GM of Emerging Technologies at Gomez. “Gomez’s “One Web” approach will be uniquely able to help businesses understand and improve their performance on both the fixed and mobile Web.”

Availability

Available today are Gomez’s new Mobile Web Experience Benchmarks, real-user monitoring service, and compatibility and load testing services for selected mobile devices. Gomez’s active mobile monitoring solution is its final launch phase, with several industry-leading early adopters actively participating in the beta program. The active mobile monitoring solution, as well as mobile enhancements to real-user monitoring and compatibility and load testing services for a broader selection of mobile devices, are expected to be available for general release as new on-demand offerings, separately priced, as early as the third quarter of 2009.