From Windows IT Pro

Microsoft will soon offer the new File Server Capacity Tool (FSCT) for this purpose, and as of October 2009, it’s already available as a release candidate at connect.microsoft.com. The tool isn’t a planning tool: those would typically let you say how many users, shares, and so on you need to support and then generate a server specification. This tool runs on your file server and stresses it with emulated workloads, then tells you what capacity the file server can support in terms of maximum users, throughput, and response time, and tells you where the bottlenecks are. FSCT is a command line utility without a GUI, so it’s very much targeted at IT professionals and solution providers.

Stress testing

From Ovum

There is little surprise in Rational’s first major release of tooling for the cloud. IBM held a series of technical preview announcements last June concerning the Software Group’s overall cloud computing strategy. The bulk of the offerings were made available in a limited release to select clients through the summer.

The releases, which fall under the umbrella brand IBM Rational Software Delivery Services for Cloud Computing (SDS), cover planning, team collaboration, and testing. They largely map to Ovum’s recommendations regarding software development in the cloud, encompassing enterprise architecture planning, software asset management, workflow collaboration, and quality assurance. The Ovum Report ALM and SaaS: should developers get their heads in the cloud? found that communications-focused or highly variable compute-intensive tasks were best suited for cloud consumption because of the ability of cloud-based tools to address wide audiences.

From Earth Times

The average usability testing project leaves a footprint of approximately 250 kilograms, or 0.25 a tonne of CO2. That may not seem much but that is close to amount of CO2 emission as a 3 hour flight.

Usability testing is universally seen as the best way to improve a system’s ease and satisfaction of use. If one usability test itself emits the equivalent of a 3 hour flight, there clearly are considerable gains to be made!

From Nasdaq

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- U.K. business software company Micro Focus said it expects first-half revenue and earnings to be up sharply from a year ago, and that its two recent acquisitions have performed ahead of expectations.

Micro Focus provides software and consultancy services to help clients update legacy IT platforms, a less-costly solution than buying new systems, particularly for firms looking to save costs due to the economic downturn.

Earlier this year, Micro Focus bought U.S.-based Borland Corp. and Compuware Corp.’s testing and automated software quality business, giving the company a footprint in software testing which ensures that software works properly when it is in development.

From CNN Money

Bsquare Corp, a leading software solutions provider to the global embedded and mobile device community, has launched TestQuest Pro version 8.0. TestQuest Pro is a flexible test automation and management platform that supports testing many different devices including mobile, set-top boxes and other embedded devices and applications.

TestQuest Pro 8.0 extends the Bsquare family of test automation products, adding to the TestQuest CountDown line of products.

From Computing

London Stock Exchange (LSE) is delaying the launch of its dark pool facility Baikal as the bourse continues talks with Turquoise over a possible acquisition. The dark pool facility, which allows traders to execute shares without displaying the pre-trade prices to rivals, could potentially be folded into Turquoise if the acquisition goes ahead.

It was reported that the bourse has stopped short of testing Baikal with clients as it was concerned it would anger customers if further changes are required following a possible merger.

Using technology provided in partnership with specialist supplier Fidessa and financial services giant BNP Paribas, Baikal is expected to provide a “one-stop shop for navigating fragmented liquidity across Europe” .

From PR Inside

World Direct are one of the leading experts in providing the correct tents and camping equipment for your needs and budget. Here, tent performance is explained and discussed is the necessity to performance test tents to ensure your safety and protection outdoors.

Performance is everything when it comes to tents, especially the mountain lightweight tents designed to withstand heavy rainfall, high pressure winds whilst having a small and lightweight pack-size. Family tents are also subject to massive performance testing as more can go wrong in the production process due to the size and space the tents are covering.

From Dr Dobbs

Software testing is the process of checking software to ensure that it behaves as expected, is free of errors, and satisfies its requirements. A software test verifies that a given component returns the correct output in response to a given input and a given internal state. Having control over the input and the state, and being able to observe the output, is essential for a successful and reliable test. If you could automate the process with a tailor-made application, that would be ideal, and that’s what unit testing is all about.

From Open Group

Acceptance Testing is the process by which the lottery verifies that the delivered lottery system or system components meet all of the contractual requirements, meet the lottery’s standards for quality, and are thus acceptable for deployment into the lottery environment.

All planned testing to be performed for acceptance must be documented in the Acceptance Test Plan. The Acceptance Test Plan must cover the areas documented in the Requirement Checklist, and if the lottery believes that an area is not applicable for the product being tested, the Acceptance Test Plan must state the reason explicitly along with supporting documentation.

Best practice in Acceptance Testing involves the use of a defined testing process that spans test planning, test specification, test execution, and test reporting. Good Acceptance Testing will clearly identify the roles and responsibilities of the lottery and the vendor, be based on standard Acceptance Testing procedures, and use an agreed approval process with defined acceptance criteria.

From eweek

IBM has introduced its IBM Smart Business Development and Test on the IBM Cloud as “a free public cloud beta for software development that provides [computing] and storage as a service.” Both it and Rational Software Delivery Services “help application developers and testers speed the development and delivery of software applications,” the release said.

“Enterprises are looking for optimal business models to lower the cost of developing and deploying software while maximizing existing investments,” said IBM Rational General Manager Daniel Sabbah. “Cloud-based models offer flexible, instant sourcing options based on teams’ needs while enhancing control of their delivery models. With more and more customers treating software as a strategic business asset, the combined value of the new offerings can help them gain the utmost value from their investments in IT across the application life cycle.”