Company Overview

Watchfire provides Website Management software and services for complex enterprise websites requiring multi-user reporting. In addition, Watchfire provides tools for small, mid-sized, and departmental sites requiring content testing for individual QA specialists and Web Developers. Through automated testing, analysis, and reporting capabilities, Watchfires solutions help detect and manage over 100 content quality, privacy, and accessibility issues on large, complex sites. Our sophisticated reports put detailed, actionable information into the hands of the people who need it.

Founded in 1996, Watchfire was a pioneer in the development of website quality testing. While the Internet was still in its infancy, Watchfire quickly recognized that the commercial potential of the Internet was being undermined by website quality problems. The company created the industrys first link checking solution, Linkbot, a product that grew to enjoy a large and loyal developer following and became the recipient of several industry awards. As the Internet evolved and matured, businesses faced greater challenges in managing their websites and web content. Watchfire realized that to solve these challenges it had to evolve from a point tools player to a provider of a complete enterprise solution focusing on the host of problems that plague websites, targeting the whole organizations rather than just the individual developer. Watchfire introduced Watchfire Enterprise Solution (WES) in October 2000. At the time, WES was considered the most comprehensive software solution available for evaluating and reporting on the functionality and usability of enterprise websites. Watchfire followed up the success of WES with the introduction of its flagship enterprise solution, WebXM, in February of 2002. WebXM is the first Website Management software to combine content quality, privacy and accessibility analysis into one enterprise platform. Watchfire also led the way by being the first to offer Website Management solutions as a managed service. Recognizing that customers require flexible deployment and pricing options, Watchfire made WebXM available as a hosted scanning, analysis, and reporting service in August of 2002. The WebXM Managed Service delivers the immediate benefits of Website Management without the purchase of additional hardware and software. This saves money and frees up valuable resources for other projects WebXM can scan millions of pages and the most complex file formats including HTML, JavaScript, Flash, & dynamically generated content (ASP, JSP, CFM, etc.) and uses a database (MS SQL or Oracle) to store the data for analysis by the reporting engine. The scanning agents and database can reside on the same PC or to increase scalability, you can add any number of scanning agent PCs that all report into the central database. Watchfires software and services have received significant recognition from industry analysts and have been written about in reports from Gartner Inc., Forrester Research, META Group, and the UK's Butler Group. Executives from the company are frequently called upon by the business, trade, and broadcast media for opinions on website quality, privacy, and accessibility issues. In 2002 alone, Watchfire executives have appeared in CNN broadcast segments, and have been quoted extensively in the New York Times, USA Today, Business Week, and Investors Business Daily. Watchfire is funded by some of the world's top Venture Capital Investors such as Altamira, BancBoston Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Kodiak Venture Partners, and Polaris Venture Partners. The company also has relationships with leading consultants including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche, and has developed seamless integrations with leading CMS vendors Documentum, Microsoft, Interwoven, and Vignette. More than 50 percent of the Fortune 500, such as IBM, Chevron Texaco, SunTrust, Northwestern Mutual, Nationwide Insurance, and AXA Financial rely on Watchfire to optimize their website investments and to help them gain competitive advantage. Watchfires alliance partners include PricewaterhouseCoopers, TRUSTe, Inktomi, Interwoven, Documentum, and Vignette. The company maintains dual North American headquarters in Ottawa, Canada and Waltham, Mass.

Company Information

Additional Details

Legal Name: Watchfire

Number of Employees: 85

Contacts

Products

• Webxm

Additional Information