Software testing for better project management
From ITPnet
Many organisations wait until late in the development cycle to test new software and often limit testing due to time constraints. This approach can create pain for the project manager in the form of cost overruns, missed completion dates, overlooked requirements, undetected errors and dissatisfaction among customers and users.
In this course, you will discover why and how to integrate testing throughout the software development process in order to uncover bugs, ensure performance, enhance quality and lower costs. Using a set of integrated classroom exercises beginning with requirements validation and ending with implementation, this course demonstrates how management of testing activities relates to the life cycle of projects involving software development of projects.
Gain the necessary insight and training to develop, document and execute a project plan that incorporates an ongoing software testing program. Get specific tools to enable you to plan for and assess test results. This course is designed for project managers, test managers and anyone who must ensure the production of high quality software delivered on schedule and within budget.
Compuware annouce 2007 Q3 results
From PRnewswire
Compuware, a multi-faceted organisation that supplies automated software testing tools such as QALoad amongst its portfolio of offerings, has announced final financial results for its quarterended December 31, 2007.
“Compuware achieved Q3 results that demonstrated both the strength and growth potential of the business,” said Compuware Chairman and CEO Peter Karmanos, Jr. “Specifically during Q3, the company delivered a dramatic increase in total product commitments, excellent operating cash flow,
growing maintenance and improved year-over-year license fees in some of its most important product lines. I join Compuware employees around the world in maintaining my confidence in the future of the business, both in the near and the long-term.”
Compuware reports third quarter revenues of $309.3 million, compared to $315.1 million in the same quarter last year. Earnings per share — before restructuring charges — were 14 cents. On a GAAP basis, earnings per share were 13 cents, an increase of 18 percent from 11 cents in the same quarter
last year, based upon 282.5 million and 343.1 million shares outstanding, respectively.
Compuware’s third quarter net income — before restructuring charges –was $38.8 million, an increase of six percent from net income of $36.5 million in the same period last year. On a GAAP basis, Compuware delivered net income of $35.6 million in Q3, down slightly from Q3 of last year.
Compuware also released a survey in collaboration with the Ponemon Institute revealing that an overwhelming majority of organizations surveyed risk compromising critical information by using actual customer data for the development and testing of applications.
Vodafone tests new technology
From Cnet
Wireless carrier Vodafone Group is testing femtocell technology, which uses mini base stations in homes and small offices to improve indoor 3G coverage.
The larger version of this concept is the picocell, which is already an established technology for ensuring 2G/GSM coverage in corporate settings. Femtocells, however, are designed to improve 3G mobile-broadband coverage by rerouting data use off the operators’ cellular networks and onto wired DSL connections where possible. As mobile-Internet usage grows in popularity, such an approach has great appeal for operators worrying about the strain on their 3G network capacity.
An article in The (London) Times on Thursday claimed that Vodafone was “considering products from (femtocell) suppliers such as Ubiquisys.” Speaking to ZDNet UK on Friday, the founder and chief technology officer of Ubiquisys, Will Franks, said he could not confirm or deny the report.
Femtocell technology has attracted significant interest and investment in the last six months. T-Mobile recently announced its own trials, while Cisco Systems bought an undisclosed stake this week in the U.K. femtocell supplier IP.access. Ubiquisys, also a U.K. company, received an undisclosed investment from Google in July 2007.
Virtualisation and test environments
From ZDNet
At the enterprise level your average IT director will be looking for ways to automate resource management of hardware while high level system changes that will impact services are carried out. Crucially, they will want to do this right through the integration, testing, staging and user acceptance testing phases before committing the systems into production.
IBM, Intel, Zeus Technology and host of other names come to mind if I think about whom I might have last spoken to on virtualisation. But I’ll go the obvious route and mention VMWare as its Stage Manager product is in precisely this space. You’ve heard of the application management lifecycle right? Well this is the service transition lifecycle.
VMWare’s take on the subject is as follows: As new services or changes to existing services are being introduced (such as rolling out an upgrade to Exchange 2008 or making changes to a complex SAP installation) they often follow a sequence of stages such as integration, test, staging and user acceptance checking to ensure they are successfully tested, approved and configured for risk-managed deployment into production. IT typically maintains numerous dedicated “shadow instances” of the production environment to support the activities of each of these stages. These systems are prone to “drift” out of synch with the production configuration, jeopardizing the successful execution of system changes and updates and increasing the risk of production downtime.
Network emulation for business continuity testing
From Continuity Central
This article addresses a critical element of the business continuity life-cycle: testing and rehearsing the plan. When it comes to technological aspects of business continuity, IT departments are faced with the need to perform rigorous and realistic testing of business continuity procedures and capabilities for network and application systems.
A network business continuity test plan includes testing fail-over and recovery strategies on the production network with production systems, personnel and procedures. However, this step is a small component of the overall business continuity test plan. The bulk of system testing is done in the lab to avoid needless disruption of the corporate network and the attendant loss of productivity. This article identifies the steps for network business continuity system testing in the lab environment; such testing authentically replicates the load, delays, bandwidth contention, errors and other impairments found in the production and backup networks, providing an accurate prediction for how the plan will work under actual disaster conditions.
BCM system testing: business requirements
When IT departments begin examining network business continuity plans, the discussion can get sidetracked on how to overcome technical issues and limitations. It is important to realize that business requirements drive technical requirements. As the NISCC Good Practice Guide on Telecommunications Resilience points out, a business impact analysis (BIA) focuses on services, not technology.
RTOs might vary based on monthly, annual or seasonal business cycles. An automated process might have a manual fallback system as an alternative for short-term recovery. Government regulations may mandate RTOs for some systems or processes. The network business continuity test plan emphasizes the purpose for the process by correlating test results back to the business requirements.
Test set chosen for WIMAX performance analysis
From Electronics Tlak
Radiated performance test system includes the ETS AMS-8500 antenna measurement system, the Agilent EXA signal analyser and Agilent’s E6651A Mobile WiMAX test set. AT4 wireless labs has chosen Agilent Technologies and ETS-Lindgren to provide WiMAX test equipment for use in radiated performance test (RPT). AT4 wireless is one of the first test labs to provide radiated performance testing for WiMAX. As the WiMAX Forum Lead Lab and first worldwide WiMAX Forum Designated Certification Laboratory, AT4 wireless is developing RPT capability in its US-based branch by adding the ETS-Lindgren RPT system.
Related stories
Power meters test optical multiport components
Optical power meters offer industry-leading specifications for device connectivity, high-speed measurement data acquisition and fast data transfer for post-processing.
This test system includes the ETS AMS-8500 antenna measurement system, the Agilent EXA signal analyser and Agilent’s E6651A Mobile WiMAX test set. This RPT solution will augment AT4’s other test systems, which include its own wireless Mobile WiMAX test set.
‘Given that RPT will be introduced as part of certification testing for Mobile WiMAX in 2008, AT4 wireless has been working hard with our partners to provide the WiMAX industry with the test facilities and test sets they need’, says Fernando E Hardasmal, CEO of AT4 wireless in Herndon, Virginia.
Appliction testing platform assesses suitability for SoftGrid
From ITPro
AppTitude 2.0, the new version of the application compatibility testing software designed to speed operating system (OS) migration, is released today to increase Vista uptake and virtualisation potential in a mixed software environment.
The automated client-server software testing platform features a new Virtualisation Manager module for assessing applications to determine if they are suitable for virtualisation with Microsoft Application Virtualisation (formerly known as ‘SoftGrid’).
The provision of compatibility testing for applications that are scheduled for deployment under Microsoft Application Virtualisation is designed to highlight those applications that are poor candidates for virtualisation and report on potential issues.
The developer of AppTitude 2.0 – itself split from parent application migration specialist Camwood for today’s launch and now known as AppDNA – said extending the platform’s ability to interrogate the unique markers of software applications or ‘DNA’ was key.
The software, which automates the application testing requirement for companies migrating to different versions of Windows, including the latest Vista OS, can also identify the interdependencies between applications, to allow IT departments to easily group applications as necessary.
The evolution of software testing
From Information Week
Software testing has undergone an evolutionary process. The early stages of software testing were primitive and did not fully meet intended goals: better quality products through broader and deeper testing coverage, taking less time to test, and reducing quality-related costs.
The current state-of-the-practice, which we refer to as “Software Testing 3.0”, is now emerging. Software Testing 3.0 offers the culture, methodologies, beliefs, and techniques that will enable software testing to truly deliver the full potential of quality engineering, test automation and global resources.
This paper will trace the evolution of software testing through its first two phases, discussing the shortcomings or “disconnects.” It will then present Software Testing 3.0, and conclude with a discussion of why senior executives should care – in essence, why it matters to them that software testing is finally evolving to a point where it can meet and exceed management expectations.
CR System Test Devices
From Thomas Net
Fluke Biomedical has announced the addition of the 07-QRX QA RADCHEX to their CR test-system platform. This factory x-ray calibrated NIST/PTB traceable meter replaces the industry-standard 07-CRX (wired) CR RADCHEX, improving the industry-standard device with wireless technology.
The 07-QRX QA RADCHEX is ideal for use by quality-assurance personnel, service engineers, and biomedical technicians to calibrate, troubleshoot, test, and document CR system performance. The device replaces the need for both the imaging plate and plate reader, providing a tremendous boost in user productivity. It can be positioned anywhere a CR imaging plate is used, making it universal in application for every imaging department. A simple interface and self-contained design speed testing, combined with an internal readout device eliminates the need for a laptop interface for the technician on the go.
European test house Testronic lab gets approved
From PRnewswire
PCMCIA, the tradeassociation for PC Card(TM) and ExpressCard(R) technologies, has announced that leading European test house Testronic Laboratories, via its PMTC facility in Hasselt, Belgium, has been approved to offer compliance testing for the ExpressCard Standard in Europe.
Testronic Laboratories is the third test house to be approved to test ExpressCard products to ensure that they meet the Standard’s requirements. Compliant systems and modules are able to display the ExpressCard logo; an orange rabbit that tells consumers that ExpressCard products are interoperable, hot swappable and plug’n'play.
The multi-step ExpressCard compliance program assures product interoperability. The first step requires manufacturers to submit an approved product compatibility checklist. The second step requires formal interoperability testing, which consists of (1) a standardised test procedure conducted between participating host systems and module products and (2) a set of mandatory tests against a “gold” suite of compliant host systems and modules. This can be done either through a test house or PCMCIA-sponsored workshop.
ExpressCard “plug ‘n’ play” applications include memory, local area network (LAN), wireless broadband (WWAN), WiFi, memory adapters, parallel adapters, serial adapters, TV tuners, smart card readers, instrumentation, 1394A&B and serial ATA (SATA). ExpressCard technology also supports the advanced serial I/O technologies: USB 2.0 and PCI-Express.
Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Lexar Media, LG Electronics, Microsoft, Sony, Texas Instruments and Toshiba are among those supporting development of the ExpressCard standard.
