Compuware has launched SpeedoftheWeb.org, a new free online cloud service that helps web application and site owners increase the speed of their most important web properties.

This cloud service enables organizations to compare the speed of their website’s performance against leading competitor sites.

SpeedoftheWeb provides a series of industry-relevant indexes with categorized collections of 1,000 of the world’s most trafficked websites—as ranked by Alexa and Compuware Gomez® benchmarks.

Some of the industry indexes include: finance, healthcare, travel, retail, media, sports and more. Web owners can easily compare themselves against these rankings, and provide their web application and website development teams with detailed performance data and recommendations on how to speed up website performance.

SpeedoftheWeb offers 15 key performance indicators (web performance optimization KPIs), in-line expert recommendations and immediate action paths to easily improve web performance. Compuware dynaTrace’s dynamic cloud-based architecture and patented PurePath Technology provide the deep Web 2.0 details behind the metrics.

“With end-user expectations higher than ever, the cost of poor website performance is huge, both in terms of lost revenues and brand loyalty. End-users are showing less patience for slow-performing websites and expect their applications to perform at lightning speed. Even a slight reduction in application performance can determine if a customer will return to a website to do business again,” said Alois Reitbauer, Compuware APM’s Web 2.0 and Mobile Performance Expert and author of Java Enterprise Performance.

“To compete in today’s complex web environment, organizations need to ensure performance along every spot in the web application delivery chain. Using SpeedoftheWeb, businesses can see exactly how their website performs across the web application delivery chain. This helps make an organization’s website perform more competitively, drive greater interactivity, increase user satisfaction, adoption and loyalty.”

To use the SpeedoftheWeb, the user simply submits the website URLs they want tested. The service then produces a simple to read, speed optimization report that provides actionable insight into performance that includes:

· a high-level report with easy to read charts for business owners and IT that compares site’s performance to best-in-class

· results of the top three sites, plus the organizations own results for each of the 15 metrics

· an in-depth “session” file that can be shared with an organization’s development team that provides a deep code-level analysis of how their site actually works and the ability to drill down to root-cause in minutes