Fwd: Watchfire acquires Bobby, the website accessibility technology from CAST

would seem to be of interest to the list...

--- Watchfire <watchfire(at)watchfire.net> wrote:
> From: "Watchfire" <watchfire(at)watchfire.net>
> To: pierremal(at)yahoo.com
> Subject: Watchfire acquires Bobby, the website accessibility
> technology from CAST
> Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 00:10:59 -0400
> 
> Because you've tried Bobby in the past, I thought you might be
> interested to know that Watchfire has recently acquired this
> technology from CAST, a not for profit research and development
> organization whose goal is to expand opportunities for people with
> disabilities through the innovative use of computer technology. This
> letter will tell you:
> 
> 1. Who is Watchfire?
> 2. About Bobby
> 3. How Watchfire will continue to support Bobby, including
> development plans
> 4. Why the acquisition took place
> 5. Where to learn more about Watchfire and Website Management 
> 6. About an upcoming seminar on August 20th, 'Closing the
> Accessibility Gap'
> 7. Want to learn more?
> 
> WHO IS WATCHFIRE?
> Watchfire provides Website Management software and services to help
> organizations automate the testing and analysis of web content on
> large, complex sites. Our solutions are designed to help detect and
> manage problems by identifying issues that affect website operational
> costs, online risk including accessibility and privacy, and user
> experience. Founded in 1996, Watchfire's customers represent over
> half of the Fortune 500 companies, including many of the largest
> ecommerce, government, and educational sites in North America, such
> as Lockheed Martin, Motorola, Compaq Computer, and AT&T.
> 
> ABOUT BOBBY
> Bobby is a comprehensive website accessibility software tool designed
> to help expose barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance
> with existing accessibility guidelines. Bobby is available in two
> formats: a free online service and a downloadable version that has
> been recently updated. The online version of Bobby allows testing
> individual web pages for accessibility using your Web browser. It is
> only able to evaluate web pages that have been published on the
> Internet; it cannot find web pages local to your machine or behind
> your company's firewall. In contrast, the application version of
> Bobby is a program that is run on your personal computer that will
> allow you to test large sites more easily. It can see local web pages
> as well as web pages behind your company's firewall. It is ideal for
> large scale accessibility testing.
> 
> HOW WATCHFIRE WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT BOBBY
> I assure you that Watchfire will continue to support both the client
> version and free online versions of Bobby, and will work to further
> develop and enhance the product. In order to meet the reporting and
> scalability needs of enterprise customers, Watchfire plans to
> integrate the accessibility functionality of Bobby into our
> enterprise Website Management platform, Watchfire(R) WebXM(TM) and
> will add accessibility reports to our website quality testing tool,
> Watchfire(R) WebQA(TM). CAST's experience, knowledge and user base in
> the accessibility space, combined with Watchfire's market leading
> website content analysis and reporting capabilities, will allow us to
> offer customers the most full featured Website Management solution
> set available.
> 
> In addition to the acquisition of Bobby technology from CAST,
> Watchfire is pleased to announce that Michael Cooper has joined
> Watchfire as a Product Manager. While at CAST, Michael was the Bobby
> Project Manager and Technical Designer, playing a key role in Bobby
> development. At Watchfire, Michael will be responsible for overseeing
> enhancements to the Bobby Client and the online Bobby service. He
> will also take a lead role in adding Bobby capabilities to
> Watchfire's WebXM and WebQA products.
> 
> WHY THE ACQUISITION TOOK PLACE
> Watchfire has been committed to helping companies with website
> accessibility compliance and we have made excellent progress in this
> area. But we realized that to fully round out our offering, we needed
> additional accessibility expertise and technology in-house. By
> devoting greater resources to further enhancing and developing the
> accessibility functionality in the Bobby product line we will be able
> to provide our customers with a more complete accessibility solution.
> 
> 'For over six years, CAST has been dedicated to making websites
> accessible to all, yet as a not for profit organization, we lack the
> internal resources necessary to keep up with the growing demand for
> this technology,' said Chuck Hitchcock, Chief Education Technology
> Officer, CAST. 'Watchfire is a vendor who has impressed us with their
> commitment to website accessibility and they have the software
> development and product marketing expertise necessary to take Bobby
> to the next level.'
> 
> ABOUT WEBSITE MANAGEMENT
> Website Management is the management of complex website issues
> relating to accessibility, privacy, and content integrity that can
> affect the usefulness and management of your website. Watchfire's
> analysis of business-critical content enables e-businesses to
> identify key issues that affect user experience, online risk, and
> e-business operational costs. These issues include accessibility,
> privacy, content and web application defects, search engine
> optimization problems, usability, asset mapping, and 3rd party link
> management. Given the synergies between Watchfire's offerings and
> this accessibility technology, Watchfire's acquisition of Bobby
> immediately broadens the company's Website Management reach. 
> 
> UPCOMING ACCESSIBILITY SEMINAR
> I'd like to draw your attention to an online seminar we're presenting
> on Tuesday, August 20th at 2pm EST. 'Closing the Accessibility Gap'
> will highlight the features and the benefits of using this
> accessibility product on websites and will be hosted by Michael
> Cooper, Product Manager. While at CAST, Michael was the Bobby Project
> Manager and Technical Designer, playing a key role in Bobby
> development. To register for this seminar, please visit
> http://www.watchfire.com/news/seminars.asp
> 
> WANT TO LEARN MORE?
>  To buy the latest version of Bobby, please visit
> http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/pricing.jsp
>  To learn more about Watchfire and Website Management, please visit
> http://www.watchfire.com/
>  To learn more about our products, WebXM and WebQA, please visit
> http://www.watchfire.com/products/default.asp, or contact Watchfire
> Sales at 1 800 282-5951 (US) or internationally at +44 (0) 1753 705
> 010.
>  To keep up to date on further developments of Bobby and other
> Website Management news, you can sign up for our newsletters at
> https://www.watchfire.com/resources/newsletter.asp
>  Watchfire also offers a series of free online seminars to educate
> organizations on Website Management issues and our products. To
> register for any of our seminars, please visit
> http://www.watchfire.com/news/seminars.asp
> 
> Sincerely,
> Michael Weider
> Chairman and CTO
> Watchfire Corporation
> 
> If you do not wish to receive customer communications from Watchfire
> please go to
>
https://www.watchfire.com/resources/newsletter/unsubscribe.asp?email=pierremal(at)yahoo.com
> 


=====
----------------------
Pierre Malraison
Email: pierremal(at)yahoo.com
Webs: http://www.geocities.com/pierremal http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~pierre
-------------------------

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