Significant Developments of the Week
1. Distil Networks Investigates Bots and Behaviors
Distil Networks, a leader in the bot mitigation field, conducts a study on CAPTCHAs and their effects on user behavioral patterns. Distil used a U.S history and politics trivia quiz via social media sites to orchestrate the study. Out of the 1,079 quizzes that were taken, around half had a CAPTCHA randomly placed at the end. Distil found that CAPTCHAs have a substantially larger effect on mobile users, as 27% of mobile users were more likely to desert the quiz than those accessing from a desktop.
BID Insight: The most interesting elements of Distil’s research are the findings regarding business impact due to the use of CAPTCHA. Businesses that incorporate CAPTCHAs on their websites experience a relatively high loss of potential leads. Approximately 12% of users are less likely to continue browsing when faced with entering a CAPTCHA, regardless of the device used to access the content. While there is a critical need to be able to differentiate bot traffic from legitimate traffic, the cost of conversion rates shouldn’t be the price, which may spur more research on new approaches for traffic differentiation and user-behavioral patterns.
2. Aryaka Develops ExpressRoute for Azure
Aryaka announces a solution integrated with Microsoft’s Azure, titled Azure ExpressRoute, which allows for speedier and more stable access to the platform. Using Aryaka’s private WAN optimization network, clients gain access to an entirely new feature set. Prominent features include compression, application-level intelligence, de-duplication, TCP optimization, and enhanced security levels. Additionally, aside from a new feature set, Azure customers will also experience substantial improvement in latency, performance, and security.
BID Insight: Aryaka is targeting enterprise companies to facilitate the most secure and reliable level of access to cloud. With cloud services and tools becoming increasingly popular in the marketplace, Aryaka can dive into that sector and establish a presence working with existing cloud companies to optimize performance. With clients in 300 cities across 50 different countries, Aryaka has a strong global presence and network span that allows them to provide stable and secure access.
3. F5 Bolsters Sales Force in China
F5 Networks appoints Jerry Huang as Managing Director of Sales for the APAC region. Huang’s main areas of focus will be Taiwan and China, and where he will oversee company expansion and growth in market leadership. Huang will aid Senior Vice President of Sales (APAC) Emmanuel Bonnassie, in the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance and Enterprise markets. Huang brings a solid background to the table, particularly in the China region. Huang has previously served as President of Unify for the Great China Region. Prior to that, he also managed the APAC region for Avaya and Nortel for 14 years.
BID Insight: F5, like so many other companies, is eager to gain traction in the highly competitive APAC market. Hiring a seasoned veteran to join the team for the Greater China region could prove a smart choice. Huang is already very familiar with the market, as he has been managing business enterprises and sales in that same marketplace for over 15 years. Huang plans on profiting from similarities in the Taiwanese and Chinese market spaces, and leveraging those conclusions to promote growth on behalf of F5.
