Mercury Interactive announced Monday that it has added wireless capabilities to its Web monitoring software, a move designed to help companies monitor the performance of applications that are delivered over the Web to mobile phones, handheld computers and other devices.
Mercury sells software and hosted services to help companies monitor the performance of their Web-based applications.
On Monday, the company launched a new version of RoadRunner, its load testing software, and ActiveTest, a hosted version of the product, which can be used to monitor Web applications based on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and i-mode, a wireless protocol developed by Japan's NTT DoCoMo.
In September, WAP and i-mode support will also be available for Topaz, Mercury's real-time performance monitoring software, and ActiveWatch, its performance monitoring service. Later this year, the capabilities will be extended to WinRunner, a product for monitoring performance across multiple device types, Mercury officials say.
The products will help infrastructure companies, applications vendors and businesses that operate wireless sites keep tabs on how well their applications are performing, with the goal of providing faster and more reliable services for end users, Jayaram Bhat, Mercury's vice president of marketing, said in a teleconference.
"End users won't tolerate interruptions in the availability of services because it's so easy to just click on the next Web site," Bhat said.
Mercury also announced Monday that wireless vendors Nokia, AvantGo, Brience and Everypath will use its software for in-house testing and monitoring of their wireless Web applications.
Mercury hopes to cash in on an expected explosion in the number of users that access Web content while they are on the move. Research company Meta Group estimates that by 2003, wireless transactions will account for almost one-quarter of all business-to-consumer interactions, and 10% to 15% of business-to-business interactions.
Its competitors in the software field include Rational Software, Compuware and Segue Software, while on the services side, it does battle with Keynote Systems and Freshwater Software.
Mercury's products work by emulating thousands of wireless transactions and identifying where performance bottlenecks exist. The emulation is performed on PCs that have been fitted with a microbrowser, the small browsing software used in mobile phones and other devices.
WAP and i-mode support for LoadRunner are available as an add-on starting at $20,000 for 50 wireless virtual users, or $50,000 for 500 wireless virtual users. ActiveTest starts at $15,000 for a hosted test with 100 wireless virtual users.
Topaz and ActiveWatch with support for WAP and i-mode will be sold on a subscription basis. Pricing per month for up to five transactions starts at $2,495 for Topaz and $3,750 for ActiveWatch. The WAP and i-mode add-on for WinRunner will be priced at $995 per seat.
Mercury claims to have more than 10,000 customers for its performance monitoring software and services. The company made a profit of 14 cents per share on revenue of $69.6 million for its second fiscal quarter, up from 8 cents per share and $42.5 million a year ago.
Mercury, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., can be found at www.mercuryinteractive.com.
RELATED LINKS
