Keynote Performance Award Winners for E-Commerce, Airline, Hotel, Travel Agency and Government Web Sites Announced at Keynote Global Internet Performa

Keynote Performance Award Winners for E-Commerce, Airline, Hotel, Travel Agency and Government Web Sites Announced at Keynote Global Internet Performance Conference

Global Internet Performance Conference (GIPC)

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 2004--Keynote Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN):


-- CheapTickets, Crowne Plaza, Eddie Bauer, Expedia, Food & Drug Administration, IRS, Northwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Wyndham Hotels Win Awards for Web Site Speed and Reliability

-- Awards Based on Keynote's Industry Leading E-Commerce, Airline, Hotel, Travel Agency and Government Web Transaction Indices

-- Only Available Indices for Understanding Performance of Important Online Verticals

Keynote Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN), The Internet Performance Authority(R), announced today the winners of the Keynote Performance Awards, an awards program designed to honor, recognize and celebrate excellence in Web site performance. Keynote honored the fastest and most reliable Web sites in five online categories: e-commerce, airline, hotel, travel agency and government. Keynote is the worldwide leader in e-business performance management services.

In e-commerce, Eddie Bauer (OTC:SPGLQ) is the winner of the Keynote Performance Awards for both Best Transaction Speed (avg. 8.7 seconds) and Best Transaction Reliability (avg. 99.70% reliability).

In e-government, the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) is the winner of the Keynote Performance Award for Best Transaction Speed (avg. 1.46 seconds). The IRS is the winner of the Keynote Performance Award for Best Transaction Reliability (avg. 99.80%).

In online travel and hospitality, in the airline category, Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) is the winner of the Keynote Performance Award for Best Transaction Speed (avg. 8.12 seconds). Northwest Airlines (Nasdaq:NWAC) is the winner of the Keynote Performance Award for Best Transaction Reliability (avg. 99.69%). In the hotel category, Crowne Plaza (NYSE:IHG) is the winner for Best Transaction Speed (avg. 10.44 seconds). Wyndham (AMEX:WBR) is the winner for Best Transaction Reliability (avg. 99.19%). The winners for online travel agencies are Expedia (Nasdaq:IACI) for Best Transaction Speed (avg. 19.54) and CheapTickets (NYSE:CD) for Best Transaction Reliability (avg. 97.79%).

The Keynote Performance Awards are based on Keynote's market-leading Web transaction performance indices in which Keynote specifies a common end-to-end business process or task that can be measured reliably and accurately at each of the sites selected for inclusion in a vertical transaction index. Speed and reliability measurements are taken on an hourly basis from the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S.

"Keynote congratulates the winners of today's Keynote Performance Awards. Each has every reason to feel proud of providing such a consistent level of customer experience they provide on complex Web sites," said Arnold Waldstein, vice president of marketing and business development at Keynote. "In addition to honoring the sites that have performed so well over time, the goal of the Keynote Performance Awards program is to foster an environment of healthy competition among leading sites in a particular vertical and support the overall goal of Web site performance excellence."

The determination of the award-winning Web sites is based entirely on the weekly aggregated results of Keynote's E-commerce Web Transaction Performance Index, E-government Web Transaction Performance Index and Travel & Hospitality Web Transaction Performance Index.

Keynote vertical Web transaction Indices are the most comprehensive available today and are the first of their kind to measure the speed and reliability of leading vertical Web sites for performing common transaction tasks.

In addition to transaction performance measurement, Keynote also provides detailed customer experience measurement services and reports. The Keynote Customer Experience (CE) Rankings are syndicated, competitive benchmarking studies of customer behavior across leading Web sites in specific vertical industries. The studies provide critical business insight into online customer experiences, industry trends and competitive web strategies. Keynote uses proprietary software and a panel of thousands of real consumers to gather the quantitative, qualitative and behavioral data that inform the reports.

Background on The Keynote Performance Awards

Every week since 1997, Keynote has published results for one or more Web performance indices on its own Web site (http://www.keynote.com/solutions/solutions_pi_index.html) and on the sites and in the magazine pages of its publishing partners.

For more information about Keynote's Performance Awards click: http://www.keynote.com/news_events/performance_awards.html

For information on Keynote's measurement infrastructure click: http://www.keynote.com/keynote_method/keynote_method_methodology.html

To read more about Keynote's Web transaction indices and the methodology behind them click: http://www.keynote.com/downloads/whitepapers/webtxn-methodology052704. pdf (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

About Keynote

Founded in 1995, Keynote Systems (Nasdaq "KEYN"), The Internet Performance Authority(R), is the worldwide leader in e-business performance management services. Over 2,100 corporate IT and marketing departments and 19,000 individual subscribers rely on Keynote's growing range of measurement and monitoring, service level and customer experience management services to improve e-business performance by reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and increasing profitability.

Keynote is viewed as The Internet Performance Authority due to the company's global infrastructure of over 1,600 measurement computers in more than 50 cities worldwide that capture and store on a daily basis over 40 million Internet performance measurements, frequent media citations quoting Keynote's Web performance data and analysis, the company's market-leading Web performance indices for vertical markets and leading customer research that provides critical business insight into online customer experiences, industry trends and competitive Web strategies.

Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at 650-403-2400.

Keynote, The Internet Performance Authority and Perspective are registered trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. (C) 2004 Keynote Systems, Inc.

Keynote Performance Award Winners Quote Sheet

For Media Use

CROWNE PLAZA

"We're delighted to be recognized as the speediest Web site in the hotel industry. We are committed to delivering more convenience and a better overall experience to our guests. Customers can make reservations quickly, get the best available rate and rely on their reservation being accurate on our Web site. This is just the first step in the enjoyable experience of staying with Crowne Plaza."

Kevin Kowalski,

Vice President of Brand Management

Crowne Plaza

EDDIE BAUER

"What this award means to Eddie Bauer is that not only are we being recognized by an industry expert such as Keynote, but also that we are surpassing our customers expectations in offering them premium, outdoor-inspired products through our e-commerce channel. As we head into the busy holiday season, Eddie Bauer is excited by the challenge of living up to the standard we've set for ourselves in offering a fast and reliable on-line experience for customers shopping for apparel to live, work and play in."

Troy Brown

Divisional Vice President for E-Commerce

Eddie Bauer

EXPEDIA

"Expedia's online speed and responsiveness is an important component contributing to our goal of making online travel planning fun and easy. We're pleased to be recognized by Keynote for our success in providing an unparalleled customer experience."

Brian Smith

General Manager, eCommerce Operations

Expedia

FDA

"Keynote indices such as the Keynote E-Government Performance Index have established helpful industry standards for Internet performance measurement. We are proud the FDA site performs well and is rated so high."

Jim Rinaldi

CIO, FDA

IRS

"We're proud to have IRS.gov recognized as the e-government leader in reliability. This award validates our goal of improving service to America's taxpayers by delivering fast and reliable online resources and tax information."

Jimi Stricklin

Director of Web Services

IRS

NORTHWEST AIRLINES

"Northwest Airlines is honored to have its nwa.com Web site recognized by the experts at Keynote Systems for providing the very best transaction reliability in the travel and hospitality industry. In addition to offering easy navigation and an empowering an array of functionality from travel planning to flight check-in, we provide online consumers with a consistent experience that they can depend on."

Al Lenza

Vice President of Distribution and E-Commerce

Northwest Airlines.

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

"Southwest Airlines is honored to receive a Keynote Performance Award for www.southwest.com. Southwest continues to make enhancements to its online product to meet our customers' needs and the ever-changing environment of the airline industry. We are proud to offer customers a Web site that is a fast, easy, high quality source of Southwest's low fares."

Kevin Krone

Vice President of Interactive Marketing

Southwest Airlines

WYNDHAM

"As more and more people turn to the Internet for travel planning, it is imperative to provide a dependable resource for online reservations and hotel information. The Keynote Performance Award is a testament to Wyndham's determination to distinguish wyndham.com as one of the top Web sites for reliable service."

Andrew Jordan

Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer

Wyndham International.

Contacts


Keynote Systems
Della Lowe, 650-403-3233 (office)
650-868-5829 (cell)
dlowe@keynote.com
Dan Berkowitz, 650-403-3305 (office)
415-518-7870 (cell)
dberkowitz@keynote.com



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