BAPCo Debuts BAPCo/MadOnion.com WebMark2001

Burlingame, California – August 29, 2000 – BAPCo and MadOnion.com today announce the release of WebMark2001, a new benchmark for evaluating Internet performance from a user’s perspective. Internet access is a requirement for most businesses and a driving force behind consumers PC purchases today, yet no comprehensive metric exists for understanding how the client computer and the speed of the connection will affect the overall Internet experience. WebMark will address the need for a broadly deployed, industry standard benchmark that can record and report Internet performance for businesses and consumers alike. “As a leading provider of business-to-business software for demand chains, the WebMark2001 benchmark from BAPCo will be an invaluable tool for Webridge, as well as our customers. With WebMark, we will be able to measure a user’s Internet experience on our customers' solutions prior to deployment and make more informed recommendations to our customers,” said Jennifer Clark, Director of Product Marketing at Webridge. “WebMark2001 is an important step in the continued expansion of rich digital content and its delivery over the Internet,” said Mark Bretl, Vice President Media Systems Products at RealNetworks. “More than 140 million consumers use the RealPlayer to experience the best audio, video and rich media content broadcasted and delivered globally over the Internet via RealSystem software. WebMark2001 will help businesses and consumers evaluate today's products and help RealNetworks and our industry partners identify opportunities to innovate and transform the Internet into the next mass medium.” “A core focus of Inktomi is delivering solutions that improve end-user quality of service through the intelligent caching and distribution of web-based content,” said Ed Haslam, Chief Strategist of Network Products at Inktomi. “WebMark shares this focus by providing a method for measuring client performance as an overall factor of the end-user experience.” “NBCi is committed to delivering a comprehensive online experience to users across all bandwidths, which often includes showcasing such rich media as streaming audio and video. WebMark will enable users to better understand PC performance and how it enables them to get the best experience from the content and commerce services delivered by NBCi,” said Leo Chang, Chief Technology Officer, NBC Internet, Inc (NBCi). “As a leading provider of communications and high bandwidth Internet services, Verizon helps more businesses become global eBusinesses. The new WebMark2001 benchmark will enable businesses to quantify Internet client performance and connection rate and make informed purchase decisions about this critical component of their ebusiness strategy,” said Shadman Zafar, CTO of Verizon eBusiness. About WebMark2001 WebMark2001 consists of seven websites in three categories: four Business-to-Business, two Business-to-Consumer and one Business (corporate intranet) site. These categories of websites represent the most common usage models found on the Internet. The workload of WebMark includes a combination of popular and emerging Internet technologies such as: Adobe Acrobat Reader Apple Quicktime Cycore Cult 3D Java* JavaScript* Macromedia Flash Microsoft Agent, ASP*, Windows Media Player*, VML RealNetworks RealAudio and RealVideo SSL XML The workload and usage models were cooperatively designed and developed by top performance engineers from a wide cross-section of industry-leading publications, testing labs, PC manufacturers, semiconductor manufacturers, and software developers. “We are pleased by the extensive use of Macromedia Flash in this important Internet performance metric,” said Peter Goldie, Vice President of Product Management at Macromedia. “The Macromedia Flash Player is the most ubiquitous way to view high-impact content on the Web. With 92% of Web users able to view Flash content immediately, it is clear that Macromedia Flash technology has played a leading role in making the Internet a more dynamic and visually engaging medium for information and entertainment. Tools like WebMark make it possible for buyers to understand how effectively the PC they purchase will handle these visual technologies.” “3D product visualization is becoming much more accessible to mainstream business applications, and Cycore is leading the way,” said Jerry Pettersson, Vice President of Research and Development and founder of Cycore. “We're thrilled that BAPCo is using Cycore's Cult3D software rendering technology in their new WebMark benchmark to measure the client performance in the Internet world. BAPCo's usage of our technology in the benchmark enforces how Cult3D is helping to make 3D images commonplace in e-business, sales, and customer support, and how immersive content will be even more broadly deployed as Internet usage continues to grow.” “As a leader in web, print and dynamic media software, we are delighted, to see the extensive use of our Adobe Acrobat software in WebMark. This is a great tool to measure the performance of the device used to connect to the Internet. Moving forward, our products can be enhanced to take advantage of the processing power of the client to support even more complex content distribution,” said Joe Eschbach, Vice President, ePaper Solutions Group at Adobe Systems. WebMark2001 was extensively validated across multiple hardware and software configurations by BAPCo and MadOnion.com’s partners, including industry leaders in the development and deployment of the technologies mentioned above. This process ensures a useful and robust benchmark that consistently and reliably delivers performance results representative of the user’s experience. WebMark2001 incorporates the following website scenarios: Business-to-Business Website Scenarios: eHouseBuilder.com: A web marketplace for building supply materials and interactive tools for house builders. electronics-designer.com: The online arm of an electronics design company that allows other engineers to acquire detailed information about the integration of electronics-designer.com’s products. eMedInsure.com: A medical insurance company that receives insurance claims from hospitals and then places the medical data online for fast approval of those claims. eCommodity-Traders.com: An online brokerage house that assists the trader in trading with other agencies by providing trading services and information utilities like charts and prediction models. Business-to-Consumer Website Scenarios: SuperEtailer.com: A shopping site that offers customers the power of shopping online combined with the same interaction they get from visiting a store. My-Foyer.com: An online news and data center that provides a quick summary of the user’s favorite topics, as well as links to interactive and media-rich sites which provide the user with more detailed information. Business Website Scenario: Auto-Concepts.com: A corporate intranet website at an automobile company that enables online creation, sharing, and publishing of documents using standard office applications. WebMark2001 Hardware and Software Requirements WebMark2001 will support Windows 98 and Windows 2000 operating systems and runs on Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 (or better) with at least a 56Kbps modem connection. WebMark2001 is being introduced under the strategic alliance between BAPCo and MadOnion.com. MadOnion.com, a leading provider of web services and e-commerce solutions, will provide marketing support and distribution for WebMark. WebMark2001 is available for $299 USD. Please visit WebMark2001 Order Link (Powered by MadOnion.com) to place an order. The benchmark was developed, and is fully supported by the current BAPCo membership. About BAPCo® The Business Applications Performance Corporation (BAPCo) is a non-profit consortium of leading computer industry publications, independent testing labs, PC hardware manufacturers, semiconductor manufacturers and software publishers. Current BAPCo membership includes: Adaptec, Amdahl Corporation, CNET Labs, Inc., Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, InfoWorld, Microsoft, NEC Computer Systems, and VNU Business Publications Limited. About MadOnion.com™ MadOnion.com is a leading provider of PC performance information and web services. Powered by an Internet-based engine, MadOnion.com is known for its leading-edge benchmark products such as 3DMark™ 99 MAX, 3DMark™ 2000, Video2000 and it is the diffusion partner for SYSmark®2000. MadOnion.com has offices in San Jose, Toronto, and Helsinki. For more information, please visit www.MadOnion.com. For more information, refer to www.bapco.com or www.MadOnion.com or contact: John Peterson BAPCo Operations Manager Phone: 408-988-7654 [email protected] Sarah Burns MadOnion.com Senior Consultant High Road Communications Phone: 416-368-8348 [email protected] *NOTE: BAPCo and SYSmark are registered trademarks of the Business Applications Performance Corporation. MadOnion.com is the trademark of MadOnion.com. All other names mentioned are trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies.