Finding out how applications are performing for end users is a task made tougher when you add the Internet to the equation. A new free tool from Keynote Systems is aimed at taking some of the guesswork out of Web performance testing. 

KITE 2.0, which is available here through an early-adopter program, is an upgraded version of Keynote’s product for testing the performance of Web applications across the Internet cloud. It’s designed to let users test Web 2.0 sites and applications from their desktops, by tapping into Keynote’s network of test sites and running Web transaction scripts in real time from multiple cities.

“You can not only test from the desktop, but also take the same script and test it from the Keynote cloud, which gives you an outside-the-firewall view of how your Web application is performing,” says Keynote product manager Rajeev Kutty.

The tool can help users -- including Web developers, quality assurance professionals and IT operations staff -- establish performance benchmarks and triage performance problems, particularly for applications that include AJAX and asynchronously downloaded content. (Compare Application Performance Monitoring products)

It’s important for other people to get involved in performance testing, outside of Web operations teams, Kutty says, especially given how fast companies are releasing new application features these days. “We would like to encourage more people to actually bake in performance metrics during the development and testing cycles,” he says.

New features in KITE 2.0 include instant testing from the desktop and from a pre-selected group of locations around the world. Users can upload Web transaction scripts from the desktop to Keynote’s test network and receive performance data from five cities: San Francisco, New York, London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong. In addition, KITE users can upload the same scripts to 70 metropolitan areas to continue monitoring and gathering performance data worldwide.

KITE 2.0 also includes performance analysis for multi-page transactions; native Internet Explorer integration; and the ability to record, playback and share Web application test scripts.

Following the early-adopter program (registration required), KITE 2.0 will be available to all users beginning in October, Kutty says.

Ann Bednarz is associate news editor at Network World.