Compuware Improves Application Load Testing
Compuware QACenter Performance Edition 5.0 increases "go-live" application confidence with new features, adds flexible pricing
DETROIT--October 14, 2003--Compuware Corporation (NASDAQ: CPWR) today announced the latest version of its enterprise performance testing solution, Compuware QACenter Performance Edition. The new version, 5.0, including the solution's flagship product QALoad, introduces features that boost tester productivity, increase testing accuracy and improve confidence in performance, scalability and reliability before applications enter production. It also offers unparalleled testing flexibility and affordability, making it an extremely cost-effective load testing solution.
"Testing is the lifeblood of application confidence. QACenter Performance Edition 5.0 allows us to quickly create accurate production simulations that easily measure the performance and scalability of both new and existing applications," said Kevin Larkin, Senior Technical Development Advisor of Amisys Synertech Inc. "QACenter Performance Edition is instrumental in identifying areas for improvement, maximizing application efficiency and proving our product's performance rates to help us best serve our customers."
Performance Edition 5.0's enhancements help QA teams quickly create performance test scripts; provide users with control over the entire test execution for quick identification of application problems and give real-time visibility into server performance. Version 5.0 also offers advanced reporting capabilities, including drag-and-drop customization and a library of easy-access, pre-configured reports.
Great Testing Product, Great Testing Value
For organizations with multiple testing groups, applications and architectures, Compuware is pioneering a new, more flexible licensing structure. Instead of requiring companies to purchase set groups of virtual users for each tester and each environment, Compuware enables testers to "check out" virtual users from a pool, in library-like fashion, leaving the remainder available for others to use. With this cost effective licensing model, many different groups can share the same license and virtual users over multiple applications, which means that companies are not required to buy a stock of virtual users for every application and tester.
"In today's cost-conscious environment, Compuware's approach is highly compelling for CIOs who must derive the highest-level of business value for each IT dollar spent," said Jasmine Noel, principal analyst for JNoel Associates. "Developers, LoB managers, QA managers and application managers all need access to testing capabilities across different platforms and changing technologies. Compuware delivers solutions that can meet those needs and are licensed in a way that 1) delivers value to every stakeholder without excessive repurchasing of the same capability, and 2) protects the enterprise's investment against changing platforms and technologies."
New Features Increase Ease-of-Use and Problem Determination
Several key enhancements to QACenter Performance Edition 5.0 make it easy for testers of various skill levels to create and modify tests, including:
Visual Navigation. The new Visual Navigation interface with full graphical displays of the captured web pages makes it simple to step through and validate captured transactions.
Advanced Reporting. Enhancements to Performance Edition make it easy for users to quickly access specific, consistent reports. With a library of pre-defined standard reports available, users have one-click access to common problem areas. They also can quickly modify reports using Performance Edition's drag and drop feature, allowing users to deliver the right amount of information to the right people at the right time.
Agentless Monitoring. In response to customer demand, Performance Edition enables users to monitor server performance in real-time through agentless monitoring--keeping the integrity of the server intact and saving department resources from having to install agents on each machine being tested.
Integration with Network Monitoring. Testers often do not have the necessary information to pinpoint whether the cause of performance problems is within the network or the application. Performance Edition 5.0 integrates with Compuware's Vantage application monitoring solution to provide granular breakdowns of transactions so that testers can understand performance problems within the context of the client/network/server relationship. Within Vantage, each web page is broken down, exposing how each component on the page performed across the network.
"Load testing is a mission-critical activity for any IT department. Large portions of applications today are Web-based with shorter development cycles and increased deployment cycles. And, many applications are now customer-facing, making pre-deployment testing more important than ever," said Compuware Technical Director Dave Kapelanski. "Compuware QACenter greatly accelerates testing cycles and improves the quality of our customers' applications. Just as important, our pricing advancements ensure that companies are not wasting valuable resources licensing legions of virtual users that sit idle."
Pricing and Availability Available now, QACenter Performance Edition is a highly scalable load testing and server monitoring solution for today's e-commerce, ERP/CRM and distributed computing applications. Pricing begins at $35,000.
Compuware Corporation Compuware Corporation, a leading provider of software and technology services, delivers industrial-strength solutions for the enterprise computing environment that dramatically improve productivity, quality and performance across the application life cycle. For more information about Compuware, please visit http://www.compuware.com.