Service monitors wireless ISP performance
 
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Keynote Systems Tuesday launched its latest monitoring service, this time for inspecting the performance of wireless - as opposed to landline - ISPs.
The Keynote Wireless Perspective service lets users better understand performance over their wireless service provider's network, Keynote says.
Service-level agreements for wireless Internet access or other mobile data services such as short message service are not offered today. In order to determine how these services perform, users must turn to third-party companies such as Keynote.
"Wireless data services are still new to users and service providers," says Chuck Mount, general manager of wireless products at Keynote. "There are a whole host of issues that can impact performance."
Keynote is well known for its landline Internet performance services, which monitor the speed, availability and reliability of ISP networks.
For the wireless service, Keynote is deploying software and hardware agents at 10 sites in the U.S. and the U.K. These agents can gather real-time information about how long it takes for a Web page or application to be displayed on a handheld device.
The agent imitates a typical wireless user. It sends and receives wireless messages, purchases items over the Internet, trades stocks or simply views certain Web sites. The agent gathers this information and sends it to Keynote's database system, where the performance information is stored. The system is also designed to alert customers if transactions take more than a specified amount of time.
The performance tests can be run every five minutes up to every hour depending on customer requirements. The system works with 25 handheld devices, including Wireless Application Protocol-enabled phones, interactive pagers or PDAs.
Customers can view real-time or historical data regarding network availability, usage and transaction performance.
The service is also geared toward wireless service providers and content delivery service providers that are interested in keeping a closer eye on their network performance.
Earlier this year, Keynote acquired privately held OnDevice, which developed the wireless monitoring technology that Keynote is using to support Wireless Perspective. OnDevice is now Keynote's wireless division.
The service is available now starting at $5,000 per month. The price varies depending on the number of wireless networks that Keynote is monitoring for a customer, the number of monitoring sites, the number of URLs that are measured and how frequently they are monitored.
Keynote is at www.keynote.com
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