Analyst Jeffrey Kaplan, ThinkStrategies, says the company’s greatest strengths are its integrated suite of cloud performance tools and its installed base of satisfied customers, but it will have to deal with its lack of broad-based brand recognition, especially in the United States. “Apica has an opportunity to leverage its installed base of customers and growing focus on cloud performance to penetrate the [North American] market.”
He believes the combination of the three announcements is what makes it news-worthy. “Apica Watch provides an appealing user interface. The iPhone application makes it more accessible. And, the RightScale partnership extends its interoperability with an increasingly prominent player in the market.”
Audrey Rasmussen, an analyst with Ptak Noel and Associates, agrees that the company faces an uphill battle as an unknown in a market with several incumbent U.S. companies offering load testing and web monitoring services. “Apica has already encountered competition from some of these companies abroad, and they noted that they’ve posted competitive wins against these competitors due to their flat-rate pricing and ease of use. In addition, their partnership strategy could help them to gain footholds in the U.S. market. The services that they provide are delivered over the Internet anyway, so their success in North America is dependent on a good sales model and sales/marketing team in the U.S."
While Rasmussen thinks the two product announcements are important from a customer perspective, as they enhance Apica's services, she views the RightScale partnership as most significant because of Apica's new foray into the U.S. market. “By teaming with a partner and providing complementary services, it provides a viable channel for Apica to break into the U.S. market.”
Overall, she likes the company's three-pronged approach: load testing (so customers can understand where their website’s thresholds are), web monitoring (to see what’s happening in the real world) and overload protection (providing a better way to let web customers know that their website is experiencing unusually heavy traffic, and that they are in the queue to enter the website when it becomes available). “Hopefully customers will be able to avoid the overload situation, but it’s there for customers that experience wide swings in web site traffic.”
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