Google Inc. (GOOG) Introduces New Web Speed Tester, Octane

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) loves life in the fast lane. Fast is not a four-letter word at Google headquarters; it’s apparently a motto, since developers and engineers talk about speed a lot. In fact, speed was a selling point of the company’s Chrome browser. But now it seems that the speed testers that are out there weren’t accurate enough to describe Chrome’s speed or the speed of Web applications – so Google created its own.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) now introduces Octane,  which is a new JavaScript benchmark suite that is based on commonly used Web applications and libraries, to measure how fast a Web browser is at executing JavaScript functions and opening various applications. This is supposed to be more of a “macro” version of other speed testers like Box2DWeb, Mandreel and PDF.js – all of which measure speed focused on a specific JavaScript feature. Octane is designed to measure all of it together, which according to Google, “a high score in the new benchmark directly translates to better and smoother performance in similar web applications.”

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is nothing if not all about speed. This new speed tester rivals Mozilla’s Kraken benchmark, which has been in place for nearly two years. Those who are interested in the source code for Octane are able to download it for themselves.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has always been focused on speed in its products and service offerings, and now it has created an application that it says will give a more true measure of the speed of a Web browser. Or, more specifically, the Chrome browser, as the company has claimed that many other speed testers don’t give accurate information about Chrome’s speed.

Will it be, then a natural progression to develop the Web browser further so it maxes the speed measurement on Octane? Stay tuned for that development.