Cutting back this Christmas? Make mincemeat of your diverse testing challenges with TestDrive v6
Original Software enhances support for Mainframe, Oracle Forms and Java applications
December, 10, 2008 – Original Software, the software quality solution vendor, today announced the availability of the latest version of TestDrive, its visual-layer software test automation solution. This major product release sees TestDrive v6 providing full out-of-the-box automation support for even more complex architectures, adding enhanced support for Java, Oracle Forms and 3270 Mainframe applications to it’s already impressive list of supported technologies, which include .Net, Ajax, Web 2.0 and Lotus Notes.
Bola Rotibi, Principal Analyst at IT advisory firm Macehiter Ward-Dutton, commented on the announcement: “Heterogeneous application architectures and infrastructures that support a mix of core technologies such as Java, SOA, Web and Packaged application forms, create a complex environment that requires more sophisticated testing and QM facilities. Add to this the need to also test across applications that continue to reside on mainframes and you begin to understand why many organizations faced with this challenging background are forced to implement manual testing workaround strategies.” Rotibi continued: “Testing solutions that support this diversity and can automate testing right across these complex environments could potentially generate a healthy ROI and speed up time-to-market by freeing up both time and resources.”
Many business-critical packages are built in Oracle Forms, including several of Oracle’s own applications like Oracle Financials. It’s a popular tool which allows development to create user-interface applications which access an Oracle database in a very efficient and tightly-coupled way. Due to the way they combine browser and standalone Java technologies, Oracle Forms applications can create some very particular testing challenges. The advanced technology behind TestDrive meets these challenges by intelligently understanding and monitoring the application’s activity, resulting in consistent testing regardless of application performance.
Java is one of today’s most popular open application environments. Due to the modular, service-oriented nature of Java applications, they are instrumental in IT Modernization and SOA projects. This has been the motivation for significant enhancements to Java support in TestDrive v6.
Earlier this year, driven by market demand, Original Software announced support for 3270 mainframe applications in its manual testing solution, TestDrive-Assist. “The response astonished us” said Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software. “Perhaps we shouldn’t have been so skeptical, because although the media focus mainly on the latest buzzwords, the fact of the matter is that many line-of-business applications on which are major corporations rely, are built over indestructible green screen technology. This stuff isn’t going out of fashion and people recognize their importance to the business, and thus the need to ensure quality. As a consequence, this new release sees us adding 3270 automation support to our repertoire as well as further improving the functionality of our IBM i5 5250 solution.”
Armitage continued: “As our recent survey* suggests, quality has become a boardroom issue and as such, rather than taking the traditional piecemeal approach, application testing is moving from a short-term project focus, to a wider strategic goal. Astute CIOs recognize that quality is imperative across all business applications and in these credit-crunch constrained times, rather than buying in new solutions for each application development or having to do manual work-arounds with their incumbent solution, that both time and money can be saved by investing in a quality solution that works across the board.”
*A recent independent CIO survey commissioned by Original Software uncovered that issues of software quality were making it to the boardroom with more than 80% of CIOs directly involved with forming SQA policies.
