Wily Technology

The firm specialized in software that monitors the performance of web applications, enabling IT managers to diagnose bottlenecks and other issues, thereby ensuring application availability and performance. Its flagship product, Introscope, allowed for 24/7 monitoring of complex web applications, helping to identify problems down to specific servlets, EJB objects, and methods. The product suite also included tools like the Customer Experience Manager, which collected data non-intrusively to analyze network traffic and manage software modules. Wily's solutions were designed to have minimal performance impact, typically less than 5%, through lightweight traces and asynchronous sampling.

Wily Technology served a diverse client base across sectors such as finance, healthcare, media, telecommunications, retail, and government. By early 2006, the company had between 450 and 500 customers, including notable names like British Airways and FedEx.com. The business model focused on direct sales in North America, which accounted for about 90% of its revenue in the region, with an average deal size of approximately $200,000. After its founding, the company saw consistent growth, reporting $53 million in revenue in 2005, a 48% increase from the previous year. In 2003, it secured $15 million in a funding round led by Focus Ventures.

In March 2006, after eight years of operation, CA, Inc. (formerly Computer Associates) acquired Wily Technology for $375 million in an all-cash transaction. The acquisition was a strategic move by CA to enhance its application management portfolio and compete with other major players in the systems management space. Following the acquisition, Wily operated as a division within CA's enterprise systems management business unit. Lew Cirne, who had stepped down as CEO in 2001 to become CTO, later went on to found New Relic in 2008, a company that also specializes in APM, but with a Software as a Service (SaaS) model.