SaaS Service Tracks Web Apps From the Data Center to the End User

Compuware announced it's now offering enterprises a more comprehensive view of Web application performance, including the ability to quickly identify and resolve trouble spots.

The new Gomez First Mile is a Software as a Service (SaaS )-based system for application performance management (APM) designed to provide visibility into both data center and end user performance. First Mile requires organizations connect a Compuware appliance to their network that monitors user traffic within the data center and combines that with the First Mile SaaS platform to monitor and measure performance outside the firewall.

"When companies traditionally install tools in the data center, it takes weeks and months to get configured and realize value," Richard Bentley, director of solution marketing at Compuware, told InternetNews.com. "Here we're talking about a user-installable box, like a cable box, that auto-configures to the Gomez network that you can realize value from in a matter of hours after installation."

Bentley said the SaaS app includes an operations dashboard that monitors both data center and end user Web performance. So, for example, if an ecommerce company launches a new Web site, it can use First Mile to identify whether there are browser and third party add-on issues affecting performance, or issues with the device being used to access the site or problems originating at the server level in the data center that affect the execution of transactions.

The Dashboard uses a red, green and yellow light paradigm to show how an app is performing, and Bentley said users can click through from there to other screens to identify problem areas.

"Gomez First Mile is the first solution that unifies real-user and active monitoring to automatically correlate traffic volume, data center, and end user response time, providing instant visibility into how many users and page views are impacted by internal and external performance issues," Tony Baer, senior analyst with research firm Ovum, said in a statement.

Compuware president and COO Bob Paul said First Mile is distinct for two reasons: "end-to-end visibility across the enterprise and Internet that has never before been possible, and a deployment model that delivers value in literally hours instead of months.

"This is the first of many innovations to come as part of our enterprise-Internet strategy," he added.

First Mile is available now.

The news comes almost a year to the day after Compuware's $295 million all-cash purchase of Gomez, best known for its Web performance monitoring and optimization services.

David Needle is the West Coast bureau chief at InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.