Keynote To Measure Streaming Performance and Quality on the Web With New Streaming Perspective Service and Quality Scale
BUSINESS WIRE - June 12, 2000 15:22
NEW YORK, Jun 12, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Note to press and analysts: Call Keynote's media and analyst relations' hotline at 650/522-1234 to request more information or an
interview. To be added to Keynote's press-release distribution list, send an email to press@keynote.com and specify media affiliation.
Keynote (Nasdaq:KEYN), the Internet performance authority(R), is bringing to the streaming industry the ability to measure performance and define the quality of streaming audio and video on the Internet with the company's announcement today of its new Streaming Perspective(tm) service. Companies that stream video and audio off their Web sites now have, for the first time, a methodical and scientific way to measure and improve streaming performance in order to improve the customer experience and gain competitive advantage.
The company also announced the Keynote Scale(tm) for Streaming, a new standard to rank and compare Web-site streaming quality on a scale from one to ten. The Keynote Scale assesses the quality of audio and video streams on the Internet by logically combining the relevant encoding and delivery factors that affect stream quality. Keynote's scale and Streaming Perspective service are supported by a group of streaming industry leaders. Initial members of the Keynote Streaming Partner Program include Adero, Akamai (Nasdaq:AKAM), Digital Island (Nasdaq: ISLD), Enron (NYSE:ENE), iBeam (Nasdaq:IBEM), Intel (Nasdaq:INTC), Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), The MTVi Group, and RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK). (See separate Keynote Partners press release dated 6/12/00. Also see partner quotes, attached.)
In addition, Keynote will develop the Keynote Audio and Video Streaming Indexes(tm) as industry standards to help the entire streaming industry develop quantifiable roadmaps for performance improvement and to establish current and future benchmarks for vendor excellence.
"The quality of streaming content on the Web, both audio and video, is affected by many complex variables, from server capacity to available bandwidth, backbone differences and the current state of the technology," said Matt Parks, product manager for Keynote's Streaming Perspective service. "We're giving Web broadcasters for the first time the means to measure and improve the experience of users accessing their streaming content by discovering what technologies and approaches maximize performance."
Web-site operators can measure the performance of both on-demand and live content as experienced by users in various locations; compare the performance of their site to those of competitors and to industry benchmarks from the Keynote Streaming Media Index; assure that users see and hear the intended quality and that the site achieves quality of service benchmarks; diagnose performance problems at the server or in the Internet infrastructure with Keynote's diagnostic tools, and improve Web-site performance by implementing design and technology solutions based on identified problems.
Availability and Pricing
The new service, as well as the Keynote Scale(tm), will be available late July 2000 with support for Real Networks' Real Audio and Real Video, as well as streaming MP3, and support for Microsoft Windows Media immediately thereafter. Pricing ranges from $395 to $9995 per clip per month depending on measurement interval and size of the stream.
How Keynote Streaming Perspective Works
Keynote's network of streaming measurement computers connects to streaming sites over T1 lines from different backbones in 10 U.S. locations: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Keynote measures relevant statistics about streaming performance for both on-demand and live events, from user log-on to the site through streaming download. These statistics include: DNS lookup time, redirect time, initial buffer time, video frame rate, plus late, lost and dropped packets as well as bandwidth utilization. Keynote's Streaming Perspective service measures on-demand content for one minute each hour from each location, but rate and length of measurement interval can be increased. Live or event-based measurements can be taken for the duration of the event.
Subscribers provide Keynote with the stream's URL and desired measurement rate, and then view graphical results through any Web browser. Results are also delivered via daily email reports. If performance degrades below user-defined thresholds of 'acceptable performance,' the service sends automatic email and pager alarms to provide immediate notification.
About Measuring Streaming Content
Keynote's streaming measurements indicate performance anomalies by location and help to pinpoint their causes, whether due to bandwidth limitations, backbone differences or traffic overload. "Frame rate" indicates the average number of video frames received by Keynote's measurement computers, which can be compared to the average number of frames actually streamed. "Packets" refer to the data units that comprise the stream, which are reassembled at the receiving end into audio and video frames. "Average bandwidth" refers to the negotiation that occurs between the Webcast server and the receiving computers to maximize the number of packets sent. Packets are typically dropped due to Internet congestion or server overload. As a result, the server will scale back the stream so that it can deliver to a maximum number of users without losing packets
About Keynote
Keynote is the largest provider of Internet performance measurement, diagnostic, load testing and consulting services to companies that operate e-commerce Web sites. The company markets Keynote Perspective(tm), Transaction Perspective(tm), Consumer Perspective(tm), and Keynote Lifeline(tm), global real-time services that measure, assure and improve the quality of service of e-commerce Web sites around the world. The company captures over 24 million performance measurements daily using Keynote's global infrastructure of over 500 measurement computers connected to the major Internet backbones from over 120 statistically selected Internet access locations representing 50 metropolitan areas worldwide. Internet performance and availability data are collected at Keynote's sophisticated operations center and are instantly available to customers through any Web browser.
Keynote customers include over 1000 leading e-commerce Web sites and hosting companies including Adero, AdForce, Akamai (Nasdaq:AKAM), Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN), Blockbuster (NYSE:BBI), Compaq Computer (NYSE:CPQ), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq:CSCO), Dell Computer (Nasdaq:DELL), Digital Island (Nasdaq:ISLD), Digex (Nasdaq:DIGX), DoubleClick (Nasdaq:DCLK), Exodus Communications (Nasdaq:EXDS), Global Center (Nasdaq:GBLX), Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM), Pets.com (Nasdaq:IPET), SABRE Holdings (NYSE:TSG), UPS (NYSE: UPS) and UUNET (Nasdaq:WCOM).
Keynote is a member of the nationally-known Stanford University Statistics Department's Industrial Affiliates Program. Keynote works with Stanford statistics experts within the program to help define its methodology for measuring Web site performance and ensure the accuracy of its data.
For further information about Keynote, visit the Keynote Web site at keynote.com or contact the company at Keynote Systems, Inc., 2855 Campus Drive, San Mateo, California 94403, telephone 650/522-1000, fax 650/522-1099, email info@keynote.com or call Keynote's media and analyst-relations hotline at 650/522-1234. |
