Radware and Level 3 Announce Key Findings on Page Speed of Europe's Top 400 Retail Websites

MAHWAH, New Jersey and LONDON, March 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Radware^® (NASDAQ: RDWR), a leading provider of web performance, application delivery and application security solutions for virtual and cloud data centers, and Level 3 Communications announced today that 3 out of 4 of Europe's top 400 retail websites take more than 3 seconds to load, failing to meet online shoppers' performance demands.

Numerous user experience studies have found that most online shoppers will abandon a page after waiting 3 seconds for it to load. Slow pages have been linked to lower conversion rates, revenues, and customer satisfaction. In one well-known study of 158 organizations, a 1-second delay in page load time resulted in 11% fewer page views, a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction, and a 7% loss in conversions.

Radware released its latest findings today in a report - entitled "State of the Union: European Ecommerce Page Speed and Web Performance" - in association with Level 3 Communications, a leading provider of Content Delivery Network (CDN) services. This survey is believed to be the first web performance study of Europe's top 400 retail websites. The sites surveyed included those of major retailers from Germany, the U.K. and France.

The survey's key findings include:

- The median load time for first-time visitors was 7.04 seconds.

- 1 out of 4 sites took more than 10 seconds to load.

- 1 out of 3 pages contained 100+ resource requests. Page resources -- including CSS, JavaScript, and image files -- are the content objects in every web page. Each of these resources represents one server round trip that is needed to pull all the page's resources to the user's browser. More server round trips typically equal longer page render times.

- 79% of sites did not use a content delivery network (CDN). CDNs cache page's resources closer to the relevant end users, allowing resources to make shorter round trips and speed up rendering. Yet only 1 out of 5 of the leading online retailers currently uses a CDN.

"These findings are a wake-up call for online retailers in Europe," said Joshua Bixby, vice president, application acceleration, Radware. "In today's hyper-competitive retail climate, site owners need to know that 7-second load times are simply much too slow, and they need to realize that shoppers are not oblivious to the issue of page speed. When fully three-quarters of sites are disappointing end users, that number can't be ignored."

"It is clear from this survey that online retailers need a fast, reliable and secure global network infrastructure to deliver the best online shopping experience to customers," said James Heard, Level 3 regional president of EMEA. "Our global CDN services can accelerate the delivery of rich, interactive and dynamic websites, allowing faster web page rendering and better enabling our customers to gain more online conversions."

Tests for the survey were conducted using WebPagetest.org - an open-source third-party online tool that simulates page load times from the perspective of real users using real browsers - in November and December of 2012. WebPagetest.org also measures a site's adoption of core performance best practices and identifies whether or not a site is using a content delivery network to cache content closer to end users.

Download a free copy of the "State of the Union: European Ecommerce Page Speed and Web Performance" at http://www.radware.com/stateoftheunion

About Radware

Radware (NASDAQ: RDWR), is a global leader of application delivery and application security solutions for virtual and cloud data centers. Its award-winning solutions portfolio delivers resilience for business-critical applications, IT efficiency, and enhanced business agility.  Radware's solutions empower more than 10,000 enterprise and carrier customers worldwide to adapt to market challenges quickly, maintain business continuity and achieve improved productivity while keeping costs down.  For more information, please visit http://www.radware.com.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3's comprehensive portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 450 markets in 55 countries over a global services platform anchored by owned fiber networks on three continents and connected by extensive undersea facilities. Level 3 services are provided by subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc.  For more information, visit http://www.level3.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Some statements made in this press release are forward-looking in nature and are based on management's current expectations or beliefs. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Level 3's control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements.

Important factors that could prevent Level 3 from achieving its stated goals include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to: successfully integrate the Global Crossing acquisition or otherwise realize the anticipated benefits thereof; manage risks associated with continued uncertainty in the global economy; maintain and increase traffic on its network; develop and maintain effective business support systems; manage system and network failures or disruptions; avert the breach of its network and computer system security measures; develop new services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; defend intellectual property and proprietary rights; manage the future expansion or adaptation of its network to remain competitive; manage continued or accelerated decreases in market pricing for communications services; obtain capacity for its network from other providers and interconnect its network with other networks on favorable terms; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; successfully integrate future acquisitions; effectively manage political, legal, regulatory, foreign currency and other risks it is exposed to due to its substantial international operations; mitigate its exposure to contingent liabilities; and meet all of the terms and conditions of its debt obligations. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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©2013 Radware, Ltd. All rights reserved. Radware and all other Radware product and service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of Radware in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks and names are property of their respective owners.

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This press release may contain statements concerning Radware's future prospects that are "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements preceded by, followed by, or that otherwise include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", and similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will", "should", "would", "may" and "could" are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. These statements are based on current expectations and projections that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.  There can be no assurance that future results will be achieved, and actual results could differ materially from forecasts and estimates. 

These risks and uncertainties, as well as others, are discussed in greater detail in Radware's Annual Report on Form 20-F and Radware's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Radware undertakes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statement in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made.  Radware's public filings are available from the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov  or may be obtained on Radware's website at http://www.radware.com.

Contact:

Corporate Media Relations:
Brian T. Gallagher
+1-201-785-3206 (office)
+1-201-574-3840 (cell)
[email protected]   

Level 3 EMEA Media Contact:

Beatrice Martin-Vignerte
Director of External Communications, EMEA
Tel: +44(0)330-060-7342
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Radware Ltd