Keynote Acquires Streamcheck, the Leading Provider of Streaming Media Quality Measurement Services
July 22, 2003 04:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time
SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 2003--
Streamcheck's Services are Considered the Industry Standard; Used by the World's Largest Media Companies and Streaming Service Providers
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN), the global leader in Web performance management services, today announced the acquisition of Streamcheck, the leading provider of quality measurement services for streaming media. Streamcheck is a privately held company based in Toronto, Canada. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Streamcheck provides quality measurements of streaming media delivery by simulating the behavior of end-users in cities around the world. Thus, Streamcheck customers are able to understand precisely the quality of experience (QOE) their audience receives.
The Streamcheck service will be integrated into Keynote's family of industry leading measurement services and relaunched in the fall of 2003 as Streaming Perspective 3.0. As well, the two companies will be integrating their measurement infrastructures, so customers of the new service can look forward to truly global coverage.
Since June 2000, Streamcheck has conducted more than ten million checks on streams of all kinds, ranging from Internet radio and financial news to live video events and on-demand entertainment content. In the process, Streamcheck has become the industry standard for quality measurements of streaming media. "Streamcheck is the official source of measurement behind our certification program for Windows Media 9 Series service providers," said Jonathan Usher, director in the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). "With its support for Windows Media 9 Series, Streamcheck has shown its industry leadership by building measurement services for the latest digital media technology."
Current Streamcheck customers include the world's largest media companies such as AOL Time Warner (NYSE: AOL) and Viacom (NYSE: VIA), as well as the most prominent service providers in the streaming industry such as Akamai (Nasdaq: AKAM), Cable and Wireless (NYSE: CWP), Speedera, Vitalstream and Loudeye (Nasdaq: LOUD).
"Over the past three years, Streamcheck has become a trusted tool for demonstrating to customers the superior quality of our network for large live events and consistent performance for on-demand content," said Bill Wheaton, director of streaming for Akamai.
"By providing a real-world view of streaming performance, Streamcheck has become an indispensable tool for monitoring a large scale streaming infrastructure such as the one at Cable and Wireless," said Pat Greer, vice president, Content Delivery Network Services for Cable & Wireless, America.
Another Streamcheck customer is Movielink, the industry's leading online movie download service backed by major Hollywood studios. "Performance and reliability of our download network are critical aspects of the Movielink service. Streamcheck provides the information we need to ensure a satisfying entertainment experience for our customers," said Bruce Anderson, vice president of operations for Movielink.
The company's "Live Event" service is designed specifically to measure large-scale international streaming events. Streamcheck has provided reporting for some the biggest streaming events including the London Madonna Concert, the first ever NBA Webcast and last October's U2 concert from Notre Dame in Indiana.
"Streamcheck is a perfect acquisition for Keynote as it adds to our growing portfolio of 'Total Performance Management' services that provide cost-effective and easy to use solutions for assuring an optimal quality of experience for online users regardless of how or what content is being accessed," said Umang Gupta, chairman and CEO of Keynote. "Streamcheck measurements are the accepted standard in the streaming world for measuring, assuring and improving streaming quality. It joins Keynote's line-up of market-leading solutions that too are considered the 'gold standard' for benchmarking Web page download, transaction and wireless performance."
"We are excited to be joining an industry-leading company like Keynote. We look forward to working with their world-class team as we integrate our service with their offerings and leverage their market presence to reach new customers," said Shai Berger, CEO of Streamcheck.
About Total Performance Management
In today's tight economy Keynote's services provide enterprise customers with 'Total Performance Management' solutions that increase return on investment and save money. 'Total Performance Management' is comprised of Keynote's cost-effective and easy-to-use Web performance measurement, monitoring, management, diagnostic, load, content and usability testing services. Keynote's overarching goal is to enable enterprise customers to leverage existing management software, increase the number of satisfied customers, reduce unnecessary capital expenditures, provide competitive advantage and deliver an optimal quality of experience to end users.
About Streamcheck
Streamcheck provides end-to-end measurement and monitoring solutions for streaming media, helping customers deliver their message with consistent quality and reliability. Streamcheck's family of services provides 24x7 monitoring, diagnostic tools and customizable reports. Streamcheck offers an objective way to demonstrate quality to customers, advertisers and partners. Streamcheck's distributed network of measurement devices ("Scanners") have performed more than 10 million individual checks on streams of all types and covers major cities in the US, Canada and Europe. To learn more, visit www.streamcheck.com.
About Keynote
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq: KEYN), The Internet Performance Authority(R), is the global leader in Internet performance management and testing services that improve the quality of e-business. Keynote's services enable corporate enterprises to benchmark, diagnose, test and manage their e-business systems both inside and outside the firewall. Approximately 2,300 corporate IT departments and 16,000 individual subscribers rely on the company's easy-to-use and cost-effective services to optimize revenues and reduce downtime costs without requiring additional complex and costly software implementations.
Keynote Systems, Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at 650-403-2400.
(C) 2003 Keynote Systems, Inc. Keynote and The Internet Performance Authority are registered trademarks of Keynote. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Keynote Systems, Inc.
Dan Berkowitz, 650-403-3305
dberkowitz@keynote.com