Canadian Upstart Accelerates Websites

Strangeloop’s Optimizer “transforms” content to streamline website performance

Since 2007 we've been keeping our eye on Strangeloop Networks, an upstart in Vancouver that we believe has a good approach to speeding up websites. After interviewing its customers, we think Strangeloop's Optimizer technology is now ready for prime time--and is worth a look if website performance is all important to you.

Optimizer is a centralized, single-ended application delivery system that transforms code-based optimization techniques into automated performance-enhancing "treatments" that speed web application performance. Optimizer also improves performance by reducing the number of application turns (round trips) required between browser and server--and it reduces the server-to-browser payload size, optimizes browser caching for future visits, and addresses other performance pain points.

Each web page is transformed for best performance at the browser, taking into account page composition, the specific browser's capabilities, and where a user is within the flow of a website. Strangeloop rewrites the HTML code from the server in real time to streamline it and reference new, optimized resources. The rewritten HTML enables Optimizer to tell each browser how best to fetch and display a page.

In keeping with the times, Strangeloop is making its technology available as a cloud-based service as well as an appliance.

We note that another company with a peculiar name, FineGround Networks, had similar technology in 2004. But after Cisco acquired FineGround in 2005, the technology was never heard of again. We suspect that back then the browser was neither powerful nor stable enough to pull off these tricks. We think things are different now because browser technology has come a long way in five years and HTML is now more standardized (along with Java, etc.), making the transformation process more predictable and beneficial.

Timing is everything when you are improving things. Strangeloop is well positioned to succeed, while Fineground's technology is lost to history. Success depends on being in the fray when the pain is great, the technology is stable, and the problem you are tackling has not been fixed at the source. That's why we believe the time has come for Strangeloop. Let's just hope that Cisco doesn't buy Strangeloop and snuff it out!