MICROSOFT IS CURRENTLY TESTING A keyword analytics tool, code-named
“Gatineau,” to compete with Google’s free analytics offering, Google
Analytics.
News of the early-stage alpha test surfaced late last week on blogs of
two of the project team members–Ian Thomas, who heads the Gatineau
project for Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solutions team, and Reeves
Little, program manager with Windows Live Europe.
Thomas wrote that the technology is based on that of the Gatineau,
Canada-based DeepMetrix Corporation, which Microsoft acquired last
year. In the coming months, Microsoft expects to launch an
invitation-only beta to test the tool, Thomas wrote.
The product is slated for release later this year, but Microsoft
intends to gradually add users to avoid the system instability that
initially plagued Google Analytics, Thomas wrote. “We hope to release
this product during 2007; however, we’re extremely keen to avoid a
repeat of Google’s experience with Google Analytics, so we will be
ramping up our user numbers gradually to make sure everyone has a good
experience from a performance perspective,” he wrote.
Shortly after it launched in October 2005, a surge in demand
overwhelmed Google Analytics, leading the company to briefly stop
accepting new users.
David Berkowitz, director of strategic planning for 360i, said the
planned offering seems needed. “There’s a lot of room for thought
leadership, and a lot of room to basically reach out and provide
transparency for advertisers and agencies,” he said. “When the traffic
comes in and as they provide better ways to target their users, then
they can provide more value than just the raw numbers.”
Source:
http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=53835&Nid=26553&p=366484
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