Micro Focus is focusing on performance testing of mobile web applications through SilkPerformer, a software application performance testing solution. <

”Micro Focus SilkPerformer offers simulation capabilities for a variety of mobile phones, such as Android, iOS and Blackberry devices. It also simulates the bandwidth limitations of mobile network connections and supports all existing and upcoming mobile phone standards like GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSPA+ and LTE, while its mobile browser simulation emulates mobile device traffic from different parts of the world,” said Archie Roboostoff, Borland solutions portfolio director, Micro Focus.

iPass, a leading provider of enterprise mobility services, has deployed SilkPerformer and SilkTest, to facilitate access from any device on any network while giving the enterprise essential visibility and control.

”The exemplary use of Silk by iPass is just one example of how we are helping enterprises outpace the building momentum of today’s mobility trend. In fact, the business advantages that Silk provides are felt right across iPass operations,” said Nitin Dang, country GM, Micro Focus India.

Sys-con.com have released a great article on Cloud Load Testing.   The article, first of a multi part approach gives users a view of how to choose the right approach.

Titled “Benefits of Loading Test in the Cloud (Part 1)” the Article is written by Steve Weisfeldt

Many companies have moved applications to the cloud as a way to reduce capital expenditure while improving IT focus and effectiveness. End users see the cloud as a way to access their documents and applications remotely from anywhere and from any device. IT managers see the cloud as a means of rapidly adapting their infrastructures as needed via virtualization and a pay-per use-model. But what about load testing engineers? Can they seize the opportunities afforded by the cloud to better test the performance of web applications?

As with past overhyped trends in IT, it is important to see past all the talk and look for concrete ways to take advantage of this new technology’s flexibility and scalability to save time, reduce costs, and improve the way your organization works.

This article describes how the cloud is revolutionizing load testing and the advantages it provides in many situations for ensuring your web applications perform well in production. It also covers key capabilities to look for in a load testing solution. Without the right tools in place, simply moving your testing activities to the cloud will likely not deliver the results necessary to justify the move. Understanding how to apply the right tools and practices to make the most of the cloud is fundamental to cloud-based testing and vital to ultimately going live with total peace of mind.

To read the full article please read http://www.sys-con.com/node/2118613

SmartBear Software , a provider of software development, testing, and monitoring tools, has released LoadComplete 2.0, the latest version of SmartBear’s load-testing tool for web and rich Internet applications (RIAs). Following are highlights of the new features in LoadComplete 2.0:

• Support for load testing RIAs and associated protocols and formats. LoadComplete 2 supports load testing of web applications built with Adobe Flash, Flex, Ajax, and Silverlight, and supports the Action Message Format (AMF), XML (SOAP) and binary XML, and JSON web protocols and data formats. Additionally, LoadComplete can now decode data from server responses and encode values into further requests. Users can view, change, or parameterize traffic test data using the graphical tree view.
• Enhanced point-and-click automation for parameterizing test data in AMF, JSON, SOAP, XML, and Silverlight data formats. An improved Data Selectors feature now lets you insert data not only into URL parameters or into parameters of POST multipart/form-data or form-url encoded requests, but also into an arbitrary place in a body of any subsequent request.
• Higher load-generation capacity, enabling 25 percent more virtual users per node. LoadComplete Remote Agent now supports simulating up to 400 virtual users on a computer node.
• Enhanced reporting capabilities. The new “waterfall” graphs, Slow Pages and Slow Pages (Average) graphs in the Report Top 10 tab, now include detailed execution time of pages’ requests. You can use this information to analyze the order and duration of page requests and find performance bottlenecks. Additionally, you can now export test results to PDF or MHT (HTML) files or send them to the printer directly from the Report panel.
• Logging complete requests and responses. LoadComplete now saves the contents of all simulated requests and the contents of responses to these requests received from the server, displaying this information in two new test log panels: Request Body and Response Body.
• Enhanced support for ASP.NET applications. LoadComplete 2 improves built-in support for .axd file requests to eliminate the need for any manual data manipulation.

Neotys, a leader in easy-to-use, cost effective load testing tools for web applications, today announced the Neotys Community, a public platform to share ideas and best practices on load and performance testing.

Participants can ask questions, receive answers and provide feedback directly to Neotys’ R&D team. The community also offers a searchable knowledge base that helps users quickly access tips, tricks and best practices regarding load and performance testing web & mobile applications.

Key features include:

– Integrated interface for asking questions and providing answers

– Searchable knowledgebase for immediate access to technical information

– Customer proposal forum for suggesting and voting on enhancements for NeoLoad, the company’s web & mobile application load testing software solution.

The question and answer sharing posting section is open to the public. Neotys customers also have the ability to ask a question or provide feedback and ideas on NeoLoad, by logging in to the site using their customer credentials.

“The Neotys Community is a great communication forum for people who are interested in sharing experiences about load and performance testing web and mobile applications,” said Benoit Derouet, CTO and cofounder of Neotys. “In addition, this thriving community compliments customer support because members can now learn from their peers and gain greater insight into how they addressed some of the very same testing challenges.

Gorilla Logic,  www.gorillalogic.com , a leader in enterprise application development services and creators of open source test tools for mobile and Rich Internet Applications (RIA), today announced FoneMonkey www.gorillalogic.com/fonemonkey for Android, its latest open source automated testing tool for mobile applications.

The new Android testing capabilities complement the popular FoneMonkey for iOS (iPhone and iPad) automated testing tool and extends Gorilla Logic’s comprehensive open source automated testing solution set by bringing Android developers and QA testers the same recording/playback and test script generation already enjoyed by iOS developers. It benefits developers by providing rapid creation of functional testing scripts; allows testers without in-depth Android Software Developer Kit (SDK) knowledge to easily and quickly create testing scripts; and, offers increased application quality and faster time-to-market.

Specific features contained in FoneMonkey for Android include:

• Records and plays back user interface interactions with native Android applications
• Scripts are readable, maintainable and also can be created from scratch without recording
• An Eclipse-based control console provides easy creation and editing of automation scripts
• Scripts can be created and ran on an emulator or actual device
• Supports virtually all Android SDK UI components and gestures
• Is free and open source
• Provides automatic generation of extensible test scripts in either Java or JavaScript
• Offers ability to run tests in continuous integration environments

“With an explosion of mobile applications in the market and a number of automated software quality offerings existing (and more evolving) for performance testing for mobile applications, the manual effort involved in functional testing remains significant and very costly,” said Melinda Ballou, project director for IDC’s Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) service. “As companies increasingly put their brand out on mobile platforms and as business critical apps ‘go mobile,’ automation of functional testing across mobile platforms – including both iOS and Android – becomes key for business innovation and success.”

Gorilla Logic’s passion for delivering quality software applications for enterprise customers led to the creation of FoneMonkey. It is the only test tool for iOS and now Android that records all actions with the iPhone, iPad and Android phone while in use and plays them back as a test script at any time. It enables the interactive creation, editing and playback of automation scripts that exercise an application’s user interface. Using FoneMonkey, developers and quality assurance team members can create suites of tests that automate and perform user operation sequences, and then verify results. FoneMonkey supports development as well as QA testing, and tests can easily be incorporated into continuous integration environments.

“FoneMonkey for Android addresses a major gap in the Android development tool chain,” said Stu Stern, president and CEO of Gorilla Logic and co-creator of FoneMonkey. “The FoneMonkey family of tools is the only record/playback functional testing tool for iOS and Android. With the addition of FoneMonkey for Android, Gorilla Logic has established its position as the pre-eminent provider of next generation functional testing tools for the mobile market.”

Learn more about FoneMonkey for Android at  www.gorillalogic.com/fonemonkey4android .

According to a report in techworld.com European countries have announced plans to ban hacking and penetration testing tools

Justice Ministers across Europe want to make the creation of “hacking tools” a criminal offence, but critics have hit back at the plans, saying that they are unworkable.

Ministers from all 27 countries of the European Union met on June 9 to discuss European Commission proposals for a directive on attacks against information systems. But in addition to approving the Commission’s text, the ministers extended the draft to include “the production and making available of tools for committing offences”.

This is problematic, as much legal and legitimate software could be put to criminal use by hackers. The draft mentions “malicious software designed to create botnets or unrightfully obtained computer passwords,” but goes no further in attempting to clarify what “tools” might be subject to criminal sanctions.

To read the full article read European countries want to ban hacking and penetration testing tools

SOASTA, the leader in cloud-based performance testing, today announced that it has added two new editions to its line of CloudTest solutions: CloudTest Enterprise Edition and CloudTest Standard Edition. For organizations with multiple testing teams, divisions, or customers, CloudTest Enterprise offers a fully integrated edition for performance testing multiple applications across global enterprises and delivers access to the SOASTA CloudTest Platform, the world’s largest global test platform. CloudTest Standard addresses the market need for more agile and affordable performance testing from within the firewall. CloudTest Enterprise and CloudTest Standard join SOASTA’s existing CloudTest Professional (Pro) and CloudTest On-Demand solutions, empowering a wide range of organizations and testing teams to ensure the high performance and reliability of their business-critical Web and mobile applications.

“The performance and reliability of Web and mobile applications can be absolutely crucial to a business’ bottom line, and this is true for organizations of any size – from small Internet businesses to large global brands,” said Tom Lounibos, SOASTA CEO. “With the addition of CloudTest Enterprise and CloudTest Standard, we are adding ‘bookends’ to our current offerings — a comprehensive performance testing solution for enterprises, as well as a more agile solution for internal-only performance testing teams. Regardless of the edition used, all CloudTest customers get the scalable testing with real-time resolution that SOASTA is known for.”

CloudTest editions deliver access to the SOASTA CloudTest Platform, the world’s largest platform for testing the performance of consumer-facing Web and mobile applications at scale. With CloudTest, customers have the flexibility to launch internal and external tests on a single platform that seamlessly integrates internal hardware with private and public cloud infrastructure and test community resources. CloudTest’s patented visual test creation, automated test server provisioning, and real-time resolution allow testing teams to execute performance tests with unparalleled speed and agility, whether testing in the lab or from the cloud.

CloudTest Enterprise Edition delivers the full power of the SOASTA CloudTest Platform to organizations with testing needs that cross projects, lines of business, customers or geographies and require segregated, secure project data and access. Built for globally distributed testing and unlimited scale, it enables seamlessly integrated internal and external testing. With CloudTest Enterprise, testing teams can build, execute and analyze performance tests of virtually any scale on a single test platform that integrates data center infrastructure and private clouds with external clouds such as Amazon EC2, IBM, Microsoft Azure and Rackspace.

CloudTest Standard Edition is a new edition designed for testing teams executing internal performance tests. Delivered at less cost and complexity than traditional tools, the CloudTest Standard solution offers fast, affordable, and scalable performance testing using an organization’s data center resources. CloudTest Standard supports performance testing of any modern Web, Web service, or mobile application in a lab, staging or production environment. With CloudTest Standard, customers can benefit from SOASTA’s next-generation testing technology, including its visual test creation tools and real-time analytics engine that allows testers to drill into live data to pinpoint performance bottlenecks and potential areas of stress as the test is executing.

CloudTest Enterprise and CloudTest Standard extend SOASTA’s existing CloudTest offerings, which include:

CloudTest Professional (Pro) Edition offers a performance testing team full control to build, execute and analyze performance tests quickly and affordably. Like CloudTest Enterprise, CloudTest Pro provides the flexibility to launch internal and external performance tests on a single platform and delivers access to the SOASTA CloudTest Platform. Installed in the data center or on the cloud, and accessed by users via any common Web browser, CloudTest Pro eliminates constraints to continuous, full-coverage, internal and external Web performance and load testing.

CloudTest On-Demand offers a rapidly delivered, turnkey service leveraging the full power of the SOASTA CloudTest Platform. Ideal for organizations with no or highly constrained testing teams or projects with tight timeframes, customers work closely with SOASTA’s performance testing experts to build and execute their tests, and there is no need to buy software, provision hardware or train valuable resources

Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR), the technology performance company, have today announced a webinar featuring Forrester Research, Inc. Vice President and software testing expert Margo Visitacion.

The webinar, titled “Testing Tools Landscape” will examine how to develop a test game plan to make load testing an integral part of the software development lifecycle.

When: Thursday, February 17, 1 p.m. ET

What: Gone are the days when application development and delivery teams could cavalierly ask the business to pick two: cost, time or quality – the business needs all three. To reduce schedule-killing rework, improve user satisfaction and reduce the risks of untested nonfunctional requirements such as security and performance, quality must move beyond just the testing organization and become an integrated part of the entire software development life cycle (SDLC).

These new requirements have motivated vendors to provide tools that support every role in the organization, resulting in broadening of the testing tools landscape. In this webinar, the experts will discuss:
*  why load testing can make the difference;
*  how planning performance testing today can help budget planning tomorrow; and
*  how to develop your test game plan.

Presenters: Margo Visitacion, vice president, Forrester Research and Matt Poepsel, VP Performance
Strategies, Compuware

Channel Techcenter.com have published an article on the importance of WebSite Testing and how it provides opportunities.

In the article, titled How Web Site Testing Opens IT Doors written by Michael Vizard the article looks at solution providers and looks at finding a Web site performance testing service and related acceleration tools from a company called  Strangeloop.

When it comes to an IT topic that customers are usually the most sensitive about nothing tops their Web site. Most of them are not really sure what’s actually happening with their site from a performance perspective or how that performance actually compares with rivals on the Web.

That’s why solution providers should find a Web site performance testing service and related acceleration tools from Strangeloop a compelling new tool to add to their arsenal. Strangeloop, which just launched its first channel program, provides a free service that identifies Web site performance issues. Naturally, Strangeloop has a set of commercial tools and services that help accelerate the performance of Web sites that the company wants to sell via the channel, which is why Akamai and Level 3 Communications both agreed to partner with Strangeloop as both those companies have a vested interest in accelerating Web application performance.

For more information visit  How Web Site Testing Opens IT Doors

Veracode is actively recruiting channel partners for a new cloud-based platform that allows partners and users to verify application security independently in both internally developed and third-party software without requiring source code or expensive in-house tools.

The launch of its Global Partner Programme will certify partners to sell its SecurityReview security verification solution delivered as software-as-a-service. Registered partners can manage the application scan process for clients without any upfront investment and receive a comprehensive report of application weaknesses in respect to compliance drivers such as PCI and OWASP.

According to Matt Peachey, VP for EMEA at Veracode, the arrival of web 2.0 has moved the security perimeter with new applications on mobile devices and in browsers becoming potential security risks. “It’s an increasing problem due to the nature of modern software development,; [Veracode] give partners the opportunity to solve many of these issues,” he says.

The service accepts binary files into its secure hosted environment which analyses each file for weaknesses using a combination of remote tools and technical specialists before returning a detailed report highlighting potential problems.

Peachey, who joins the firm following stints at IronPort, NetApp and Sun, is leading the drive to build a credible European channel. Part of the push by Veracode is in response to its rival Fortify being purchased by HP in August. Although the firms have different technology, they both offer to help developers secure code and avoid potential security issues.

For partners looking at offering the service, a typical scan can cost from several hundred to thousands of pounds depending on the complexity and size of the application. With margins of around 20 percent, the service offers a healthy profit without upfront commitment or technical training.

The vendor has already signed up a number of partners including Nebulas and Pentura, and Peachey points out that even individual consultants can use its SaaS as a “white label” tool to augment code reviews or security testing services.