By John Evan Frook

There's a new breed of Web tracking software developers on the horizon.

Newcomers WebThreads and Andromedia Inc., are prepped to announce Monday products that make use of Netscape's cookies technology to track visitors in real-time. The WebThreads and Andromedia software packages enables sites to follow users through a session-vanguard technology that introduces a host of interactivity, the two newcomers say.

Both WebThreads and Andromedia sell tracking tools as scaleable solutions. Each stresses the flexibility in their products that they say allow site developers to add content management and advertising rotation.

Yet WebThreads and Andromedia face uphill climbs. The Web traffic measurement field is crowded with competitors. Interse Corp. and net.Genesis have already carved out mindshare for its MarketFocus and net.Analysis traffic analysis products. Others like W3.Com have been offering a direct real-time tracking for several months.

A break to daylight for WebThreads and Andromedia may well depend on partnerships with developers to build "must-have" site applications, such as ad and content management applications, which work best with real-time tracking techniques.

"It is wait-and-see time," says Rajat Bhargava, chairman of net.Genesis. "It is a big market. If they have a great product they each have a chance at being successful, but it all will boil down to execution."

WebThreads, based in Vienna, Va., appears to be the furthest along of the two. It is prepared to begin shipping Monday an $895 tool features drag-and-drop real-time tracking applications tailored for the novice Webmaster. Meanwhile, San Francisco-based Andromedia plans to ship in the third quarter its $1,800 to $35,000 Aria World Wide Web Recording and Reporting System this fall.

Advent of WebThread and Andromedia could split the traffic market. Previously, Web traffic analysis tools were often lumped together with real-time trackers.

Net.Genesis' Bhargava points up that significant advancements have been made in the analysis field. For example, net.Analysis has just added a function to its software that identifies when a visitor enters a non-functioning URL. Without it, Webmasters have no way to retain visitors attempting to enter a defunct page. That little tweak will make a big difference in software sales, he says.

Andromedia says it is absolutely critical to identify users as soon as they reach a site, and he anticipates burgeoning demand for real-time tracking tools.

"It is like standing on the edge of a raging river and trying to figure out how quickly the river bed is eroding," says Godfrey. "You have to be able to stop the river and take snapshots. The Internet is in constant motion, so there's no built-in mechanism to take those snapshots. That's what our products do."

Introduction of WebThreads and Andromedia doesn't mean others are surrendering the real-time tracking market. Measurement services like NetCount and Internet Profiles Corp. (I/Pro), and established software developers Interse and net.Genesis, are ideally positioned to compete in the real-time tracking. Several established firms claim such functionality already, and others are racing to add immediacy to their offerings.

Andromedia's Godfrey says real-time tracking is the gateway for some powerful site functionality. For example, Andromedia is being tested on an Internet casino. Real-time tracking will operate as cyberspace's equivalent of an eye-in-the-sky, Godfrey says. It will work to watch every visitor's move and separate professional and amateur bettors based on their actions. Otherwise, card counters could make a killing on the Web, Godfrey adds.