BOULDER, Colo., Dec 14, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Despite
predictions from industry observers that site performance would drop
precipitously as the holiday season wore on, most major shopping sites
are holding steady this week with only fractional degradation,
according to the most recent TurboSanta(SM) report. But while overall
scores remained relatively consistent, some individual sites staggered
under the holiday strain. Service Metrics(SM), Inc., an Exodus
Communications(TM), Inc. (Nasdaq: EXDS) company and a leading provider
of Web site measurement applications and services, today announced
TurboSanta holiday performance results for the week of Dec. 6 through
Dec. 12. Overall, performance scores for the TurboSanta index continued
their descent, but slowed from the week prior, losing less than one
second since last week's report. The performance scores fell from 5.23
seconds earlier to 5.65 seconds this period. Availability ratings,
meaning how often the site was accessible to users, maintained a 96
percent average, but only one site of 120 achieved 100 percent
availability, compared to five last week.
On both ends of the spectrum, both the 10 fastest and 10 slowest sites
are becoming marginally slower. This week's top-performing sites ranged
from .64 seconds to 1.82, and the average download speed for all 10
sites remained consistent with last week's score at 1.38 seconds.
Similarly, the poorest- performing sites ranged from 11.41 seconds to
25.31 seconds and the average dropped from 17.42 seconds last week to
19.32 seconds this week. Of the bottom 10 performing sites, six have
retained the dubious distinction of being included on that list at
least twice. Availability also worsened significantly overall with only
one site achieving 100 percent availability this week compared with
five last week. Five of the 10 sites in the least- available list have
been on that list for at least two weeks, and three of those five have
been included on it three weeks in a row.
Located at www.servicemetrics.com/TurboSanta, Service Metrics
TurboSanta is the most comprehensive performance report for the holiday
season, measuring more Web sites than any other service and measuring
all elements of a Web site including JavaScript, frames, cookies, SSL
and caching. TurboSanta continuously monitors the 120 top retail sites,
including the top 100 e-tailers as rated by the National Retail
Federation (NRF), and divides those 120 sites into 13 vertical market
categories.
Although pet supplies holds onto its leading status for the third week
in a row as the fastest vertical category overall with a performance
average of 3.19 seconds, only slightly longer than last week's time of
3.01 seconds, its availability average plummeted from 99 percent to a
mere 89 percent. The decline can primarily be attributed to one site's
very low 63 percent availability scores which brought down the average
of the category as a whole. The worst-performing category of last week,
the computer vertical, had a performance score of 6.67, but this week's
poorest performer, food/health, dropped well below that score to 8.02
seconds, below the acceptable standard of eight seconds.
Performance of TurboSanta Vertical Markets(1) Vertical Industry
Performance Performance Availability Availability
(download times Range Range
in seconds)
Pets 3.19 1.60 - 4.41 89% 63% - 99%
Kids/Toys 4.09 .64 - 7.06 97% 94% - 99%
Books/Music/Videos 4.19 2.60 - 6.46 97% 90% - 99%
Software 4.44 .83 - 9.94 98% 94% - 100%
Apparel 4.51 1.69 - 9.71 96% 85% - 99%
Flowers/Cards 4.86 2.24 - 8.04 97% 92% - 99%
Computers 5.24 1.58 - 25.31 95% 74% - 99%
Department Stores 5.83 1.23 - 17.94 96% 85% - 99%
Auctions 6.00 1.82 - 11.41 92% 77% - 99%
Recreational
Equipment 6.66 1.45 - 24.18 97% 92% - 99%
Electronics 6.85 2.40 - 3.11 98% 97% - 99%
Miscellaneous 7.40 2.63 - 25.13 96% 75% - 95%
Food/Health 8.02 2.57 - 21.23 97% 83% - 99%
TurboSanta Index
of all Web sites 5.65 96%
Among the top performing sites, five have maintained their place in the
top 10 for three weeks in a row and two have rated in the top 10 two
out of three weeks.
Performance Range of the Top 10 Fastest Sites Performance Range(1)
Web Site Performance
FAO Schwarz 0.64
CompUSA.com 0.83
Yahoo.com 1.23
OnSale.com 1.45
Eastern Mountain Sports 1.45
Egghead.com 1.48
Compaq.com 1.58
Drsfostersmith.com 1.60
Spiegel.com 1.69
Bid.com 1.82
The only site to score 100 percent availability this period was
OnSale.com, down from five sites a week ago. There were also a number
of sites with 99 percent availability.
Measurement Methodology Service Metrics measures the performance of Web
sites from the end-user perspective through its worldwide network of
Data Collection Agents (DCAs). These agents are connected to the
Internet via major backbone providers, representing the end user by
downloading Web pages through emulation of standard Netscape
Navigator(R) or Microsoft(R) Internet Explorer(TM) browsers.
To collect TurboSanta scores, each agent in the network downloaded each
of the 120 Web pages three times per hour, 24 hours a day, from Dec. 6
through Dec. 12. For each URL in the TurboSanta index, which includes
the Top 100 retail sites as rated by the NRF, the full page and all the
objects on that page (graphics, redirects, frames, etc.) are
downloaded. As the page and all the objects on it are being downloaded,
Service Metrics agent software measures each component of the download
process (connect, response, DNS look-up times, etc.) to identify
contributors to performance degradation.
About Service Metrics, Inc. Based in Boulder, Colo., Service Metrics,
Inc., an Exodus Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXDS) company, is a
leading provider of applications and services that measure the
consistency, availability and performance of Web sites. Collecting more
than 2 million Web page measurements per day, Service Metrics provides
e-business decision-makers the information they need, in real time, to
improve quality of service and drive return on investment. Through its
SM-WEB(SM) and SM-SCENARIO(SM) measurement services, its patent-pending
SM-WEBPOINT(SM) application and the new SM-SOURCETRACKER(SM)
application, Service Metrics systematically measures, from an end-user
perspective, a Web site's performance over a period of time and
provides companies with information to analyze and implement the
necessary changes for optimum Web site performance.
For more information on Service Metrics or its services, contact
Service Metrics at 4900 Nautilus Court, Boulder, Colo. 80301;
telephone: (303) 381-0888; fax: (303) 530-0475; or visit the Service
Metrics Web site at www.servicemetrics.com.
(1) The reports provided by Service Metrics TurboSanta include
time-sensitive data and reflect measurements taken for the week of
December 6 through 12 only. Site performance may vary according to
general Internet network influences and changes in individual sites.
Please check TurboSanta regularly for the most current measurements.
Exodus, Exodus Communications, the Exodus logo, Service Metrics, the
Service Metrics logo, SM-WEB Diagnostic Edition, SM-WEB BenchMetric
Edition, SM-WEBPOINT, SM-SOURCETRACKER, SM-SCENARIO, The Best Measure
of Performance and TurboSanta are trademarks of Exodus Communications,
Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Microsoft is a
registered trademark of and Internet Explorer is a trademark of
Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks set forth in this document
are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE Service Metrics, Inc.
(C) 1999 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
prnewswire.com
-0-
CONTACT: Deborah Jones, account manager of Strategies, A Marketing
Communications Corporation, 714-957-8880, ext. 113,
deborah@strategiesadpr.com; or Bill Quinn, public relations
manager of Service
Metrics, Inc., 303-381-2307, bquinn@servicemetrics.com
WEB PAGE: strategiesadpr.com
servicemetrics.com
servicemetrics.com
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