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Feature StoryBy Paula BernierA New Take on ImprovingWebsite PerformanceWhile facilities-based wireless network operatorsare busy optimizing their networks andservices for the mobile data barrage, companiescontinue to optimize their websites so users on bothmobile and fixed connections and endpoints have a betterexperience during their virtual visits. One companyhelping them with that is Strangeloop.Strangeloop designs, builds, installs, and supports hardwareand software solutions that accelerate the performance of websitesand web-based applications.After founding content management company Iron Point in 2002and selling it four years later to Active Network, Joshua Bixbyin 2006 joined forces with his identical twin, Jonathan, and twoother business partners to establish Strangeloop. Joshua is presidentof Strangeloop; Jonathan is CEO. The private company had125 customers as of late last year, has $11.5 million in financing,and expected to reach profitability by 2010.During his time at Iron Point, Bixby says customers alwayswanted the sites the company built for them to be faster andmore feature rich. So, he set out to “create a magic box thatwould make everything faster.”Most people think about website optimization in terms oftaking what the server gives you, and figuring out how to makeit faster. Strangeloop, meanwhile, approaches the problem byworking with the “parcel” – unpacking it, optimizing it, andsending it, says Bixby.Specifically, Strangeloop’s solutions improve websiteperformance by minimizing the number of round trips,decreasing payload by removing unneeded content, andoptimizing how the browser and images are rendered. Italso automatically rewrites to a CDM, flushes the bufferearly and does preloading.Today Strangeloop offers solution to customers both as aservice and in the form of appliances that customers caninstall and manage from their own data centers. Travelocityis among the customers that subscribe to Strangeloop’sservice-based solution. Petco and VISA are among the rosterof customers that have purchased and installed the Strangeloopappliance.Although the costs of these solutions depend on a customer’sparticular requirement, a mid-sized business using two appliancescould expect to spend about $60,000, while a mid-tiercloud customer might pay between $3,500 and $5,000 amonth for the Strangeloop service.Strangeloop’s “magic box”GoTo:GoTo:52 INTERNET TELEPHONY ® February 2011 Table of Contents • Ad IndexSubscribe FREE online at www.itmag.com