alt Hacker NewsAccenture to acquire Ookla
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"By integrating Ookla’s data products, including Speedtest®, Downdetector®, Ekahau®, and RootMetrics®, Accenture will help Communications Service Providers (CSPs), hyperscalers, and enterprises optimize the mission-critical Wi-Fi and 5G networks that power their digital core. [...] Ookla’s data platform is anchored by more than 250 million consumer-initiated tests per month, complemented by controlled drive, walk, and embedded testing options"[1]
[1] https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/2026/accenture-to-acquir...
that's nuts, unless I'm missing something, it doesn't seem like those products are that mind blowingly complex... wow. Makes we want to try building my own for the hell of it.
Downdetector in fact just seems to be a website catalog with essentially a guestbook and hit counter...
I really hope they don't change the interface of the speedchecker because it's so clean rn
may i suggest nettfart.no by the norwegian government as an alternative ? at least the name is fun
Worked there for half a decade and helped a little on this deal but exited right before.
Like another commenter pointed out, the deal is a data acquisition. Ookla is multimillion dollar business thanks to its awards and data programs with almost every telco a customer. Accenture was already a competitor thanks to their Umlaut acquisition
For most consumers, Ookla = Speedtest but there’s a lot more beneath the surface. Ookla owns a drive-testing firm, Downdetector (consumer based outage reporting) and a thriving SDK & server network. Most of the data comes via background tests and embedded SDK tests.
Not THAT Ookla, darn it. http://www.ooklathemok.com/
I would never have had SpeedTest on my board of unicorns…that’s an unbelievable sale price. To all the agents who negotiated that deal, my hat is off to you.
And now every SLA that Accenture is held to for uptime suddenly will never be breached…
That seems like a lot for name recognition. I bet you could rebuild their technology for like $20m at the most, and buy 100% market share for like $100m easy. Unless they have some other assets other than the obvious?
There is something I never liked about Crapcenture - it's corporate culture is so weird and almost cult-like. There is no doubt they are successful but I question whether that model should even exist in the first place.
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I don’t think I would trust Downdetector in the hands of a company that its main business is consulting some of the same business to assess.
Imagine a large Accenture business being down. Would they provide that evidence even when that could harm their own SLA commitments with their clients?
I would trust Datadog more with https://updog.ai/
I am not sure why this old news is surfacing here today but I can give my 2 cents, since I sold speedchecker.com last year and were directly competing with Ookla.
The main business is selling the data. You use Speedtest.net to troubleshoot your connection but metrics captured with the test alongside location data give telcos invaluable insights on where they should improve their networks. Telcos pay 6 figures annually for this data and we have a few hundreds of of those big MNOs globally. This market is pretty big. Accenture is in trouble with their main consulting business due to AI so acquiring data business is one of the smart strategies they can implement to stay relevant.
To all commenters who think they can code it over the weekend, yes you are right. I coded my first speed checker over the weekend in 2008 but it took me 18 years to grow the user base , figure out entreprise sales strategy and exit. Its not easy as it seems.