PacketZoom: A New Approach to Accelerate Mobile Apps

PacketZoom was founded by Chetan Ahuja in 2013 out of frustration: Ahuja experienced first-hand how bad connections affect the user experience while commuting by train; none of the big companies were coming up with a solutions so Ahuja started PacketZoom - the first in-app technology that boosts mobile app performance. “I left Google and started PacketZoom with the vision to offer a technology that sets the standard for mobile app performance worldwide, simply and reliably” said Ahuja.

PacketZoom’s executive team includes technology addicts with combined experiences from Google, Akamai, Riverbed and more.

PacketZoom’s Mobile ExpresslaneTM in-app networking technology is customizing content delivery for each end user. By identifying, removing and controlling roadblocks in the mobile “last mile,” PacketZoom is able to resolve network issues quicker, eliminate up to 90 percent of networking connection drops, and accelerate app performance by 2x to 3x -- all while reducing CDN costs. At the heart of this solution is the PacketZoom mobile networking stack. “It helps dated protocols overcome the challenges presented by mobile networks” stated Shlomi Gian, CEO at PacketZoom.“PacketZoom is a unique player in the mobile app networking space -- the only player that offers an in-app technology designed from the ground up for native mobile apps,” explained Gian.

PacketZoom is also unique in its position as a Content Delivery Network (CDN) enhancer, not a replacement. “While PacketZoom can work as a stand-alone solution, it has been found to be very effective in enhancing CDN, since PacketZoom focuses on the last mobile mile while CDNs focus on the first and middle wired miles.” This positioning has allowed PacketZoom to partner with ChinaCache, the leading CDN provider in mainland China, giving the company the opportunity to scale quickly.

The company provides app developers with a fast, easy and painless SDK integration experience. PacketZoom’s SDK was used by over 40 million unique devices in the first quarter of 2017. Per a MixRank March 2017 report, PacketZoom’s SDK had the largest number of customers and app installs as well as the lowest percentage of app churn (i.e. SDK uninstalls) in the industry. PacketZoom currently supports some of the world’s largest mobile games and leading retail, news and travel apps (Deer Hunter, Sephora, GOAT, Upwork, News Republic and Gordon Ramsay, to name a few) and plans to continue growing and expanding into new markets in the very near future.

PacketZoom recently assisted the powerful beauty brand, Sephora, with its launch of a new mobile shopping app in the Southeast Asian market. With millions of users on iOS and Android, an unreliable mobile network quality led to slow image download time and frequent session disconnects - both affecting user experience and revenue. With PacketZoom’s Mobile Expresslane, Sephora gained a 10 percent increase in image views. This was made possible thanks to two times faster image downloads across 3G, LTE and WiFi networks, and 63% of network-driven disconnected sessions were rescued.

PacketZoom is continually expanding its service portfolio to offer developers better visibility, understanding and insight into their mobile app’s performance. “We would like developers to feel ‘in control’ of their mobile app and be able to review data and analytics to gain new insights on how their mobile app is doing at any given moment, enabling them to make some educated decisions on best practices to optimize their own application,” added Gian.