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SOASTA

Other B2B Software · Mountain View, United States · Founded 2006

SOASTA operated in the digital performance management sector, providing cloud-based services to test the performance and functionality of websites and mobile applications before its acquisition by Akamai Technologies in 2017. The company was founded in 2006 by Ken Gardner, a serial entrepreneur with a history of founding and leading technology companies, and Tom Lounibos, who served as CEO and brought over 30 years of experience in building early-stage software firms. Gardner's background includes multiple successful ventures, such as Sagent Technology and Istante Software, which were acquired by major industry players. The firm's business model centered on providing a unified platform for measurement, testing, and analysis, enabling clients to understand the business impact of their digital performance. SOASTA's product suite allowed for comprehensive testing, including load, performance, functional, and UI/Ajax testing. Its flagship product, CloudTest, utilized cloud infrastructure like Amazon Web Services (AWS) to simulate massive user loads, helping businesses ensure their applications could scale and perform reliably. For mobile applications, SOASTA offered TouchTest, which automated functional testing for multitouch, gesture-based interfaces. Another key product was mPulse, which provided real user monitoring (RUM) to deliver insights into actual user experiences in real-time. This allowed clients to move beyond synthetic testing to proactively manage and optimize performance based on actual user data. The company served a broad range of clients, from small businesses to large enterprises and major global brands that required high-performing digital experiences, including names like Apple, Target, and Disney. Revenue was generated through subscription-based access to its testing solutions, with different tiers available, including enterprise-level annual subscriptions. In March 2017, Akamai Technologies announced its agreement to acquire SOASTA in an all-cash transaction, integrating SOASTA's technology into its Web Performance Solutions portfolio to offer customers a more comprehensive set of tools to measure, optimize, and validate the business impact of their web performance strategies. Keywords: digital performance management, application testing, cloud testing, website performance, mobile application testing, load testing, real user monitoring, performance analytics, functional testing, user experience optimization, SOASTA, CloudTest, mPulse, TouchTest, Ken Gardner, Tom Lounibos, Akamai, application performance management, web performance, software testing as a service, automated testing, performance engineering, user interface testing, scalability testing