speed-trap.com Introduces Prophet Web Site UsabilityTool To Monitor, Analyze & Enhance...

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2000

speed-trap.com, a new e-commerce performance management company, Monday introduced its Prophet software application, which is a Java-based, active client-side toolkit for use by Internet Web site operators

Prophet provides a complete insight into the actual user experience of individuals coming to a Web site because it collects real-time data on user interaction with Web pages and permits a wide variety of data analysis -- from simple clickstream to page audit trails to real-time replay of actual user sessions on a Web site.

It does this with unique, patent-pending technology that downloads a Java applet onto the user's PC as part of Web pages which are to be monitored and analyzed. This applet then converses with the Prophet server application, co-located with the Web server, to collect all events that occur while the user interacts with the Web site. In this way, each Web page monitors its own use.

"Prophet leapfrogs existing Internet application performance monitoring techniques because it records the end user's experience and online intra-site and intra-page behavior, time stamps and encrypts that data, and returns it in real time to the Web site operator or hosting service," explained Malcolm Duckett, vice president of marketing. "Other Prophet components then search the incoming data stream for significant sequences of events or trends. Analysis and visualization tools allow the site owner to monitor both user behavior and system performance, to spot anomalous behavior. Data may also be exported for analysis with external tools.

"A critical design element of Prophet's architecture is that it protects the Web site user's privacy at all times," Duckett continued. "Prophet is designed to not record or know user details such as IP address, log-in name, password, etc. Information can only be passed back to the site owner or hosting service.

"Personal data entered by the user on a voluntary basis, such as that provided to complete a purchase, can be excluded from the collection process by the site designer. Individual users remain completely anonymous. Since Prophet is 100% a Java application, and operates within the Java 'sandbox,' it is intrinsically safe to use and is non-invasive to the Web surfer.

"Moreover, Prophet's Java-based implementation makes it platform-independent so that it operates on PC, Macintosh and UNIX systems and will be able to work with emerging Java-enabled devices such as Web-TV, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and wireless technologies, including the wireless application protocol (WAP)," Duckett added.

Competitive Web monitoring applications attempt to provide usability data by watching the Web servers or network management systems themselves. They typically deploy computer scripts or even volunteer Web surfers to hit a Web site and report results. At best, these only provide anecdotal information on usability or performance, based on crude statistical mechanisms derived from sparse or inappropriate data. None provides actual factual results as to where and how users moved around individual pages, frames or forms, what buttons they clicked on or what data they entered.

In contrast, Prophet allows Web site operators to specify the level of detail they want to record, including individual mouse and cursor movements, clicks, keystrokes, buttons, selections and submits on a page-by-page, minute-by-minute or frame-by-frame basis. Prophet even detects and reports user environment details such as browser window size, browser type and version number. Its data collection abilities aren't limited by dynamic IP address considerations or Web cache issues, and all data is fully contextualized, including page, frame, form and field-level information.

The resulting detail collected is encrypted and sent back to the Prophet data server where it can be analyzed for applications including:

-- Performance monitoring & measurement

-- Usability monitoring

-- User behavior tracking & experience evaluation

-- Security support for anti-hacker and anti-fraud protection

-- Audit trails for non-repudiation, billing, supply chain tasks, etc.

-- Site design & usability studies

-- Service Level Agreement (SLA) monitoring, measurement & reporting

"The high-level usability research capabilities of Prophet can be critical to the success of e-commerce Web sites because owners need to find out how their customers shop and develop their sites to eliminate potential problem areas before they occur," Duckett said. "According to one recent survey of global e-commerce, 80% of attempted Web purchases were abandoned because prospective shoppers found sites too hard to use.

"Problems included onerous information requests (52%), site malfunctions (42%) and inability to even find the desired product (40%). Using Prophet can uncover these problem areas and enhance site optimization so that the user experience is vastly improved.

"Prophet helps Web site owners, designers and operators to resolve these issues because it offers a completely new source of usability data, allowing designers to 'watch' real people attempt to utilize their creation -- almost as if they were looking over their shoulders," Duckett noted. "This can be especially valuable when monitoring non-native language speakers who may be navigating your site."

Prophet is available for purchase by Internet Web site owners, host services and consultants in any of three licensing methods:

-- On a usage license basis, under which the software is provided

free of charge and users pay based on the number of sessions

being monitored

-- As a classic software license, based not on server size but on

the number of concurrent user sessions being monitored

-- And as a project license, for consultant use on a project

basis for specific periods of time

About speed-trap.com

speed-trap.com is a U.K.-based e-commerce performance management company with headquarters in Newbury, U.K. and offices in Boca Raton. The company builds the tools and technology which the emerging generation of business-quality Web sites, Web applications and wireless solutions will use to build fast, usable, efficient and profitable solutions to meet the demands of today and tomorrow.

speed-trap.com was founded in January of 2000 specifically to exploit their patent-pending technology that allows a unique insight into how real users and customers interact with online applications.