Downdetector, Speedtest sold to IT service provider Accenture in $1.2B deal
Source: Ars Technica
Acquisition Overview
In a statement, Accenture CEO and chair Julie Sweet said:
“By acquiring Ookla, we will help our clients across business and government scale AI safely and build the trusted data foundations they need to deliver the reliable, seamless connectivity that creates value.”
Current Accenture Public Sector Clients
- U.S. Air Force
- U.S. Social Security Administration
- U.S. Department of State (recently announced) – see the press release.
Speedtest and Downdetector Overview
Speedtest and Downdetector are widely used tools:
- Speedtest helps users quickly test their current internet speed.
- Downdetector provides real‑time status information on online services, and is frequently cited in media reports covering the availability of websites, apps, banks, and more.
B2B Applications
Both tools have significant business‑to‑business (B2B) use cases under Ziff Davis:
Speedtest
Ookla gathers, aggregates, and analyzes data for “billions of mobile network samples daily, which measure radio signal levels, network coverage, and availability, and [quality of experience] metrics for a number of connected experiences, such as streaming video, video conferencing, gaming, web browsing, and CDN and cloud provider performance” – see the full methodology on the Ookla website.
Current B2B customers include:
- Telecommunications operators
- Regulatory and trade bodies
- Analysts and journalists
- Non‑profit organizations
Downdetector Explorer
Downdetector Explorer is a monitoring tool designed to help businesses detect outages. Its customers span:
- Streaming services
- Banks
- Social networks
- Communication service providers
Potential Impact of the Acquisition
If the acquisition closes, Accenture plans to leverage data from Speedtest and Downdetector to inform its clients. Individual users of the platforms will be subject to a new privacy policy and any other changes Accenture may implement.