Archive for 2009

AppLabs and Original Software Partner to Help Clients Take the Step from Manual to Automated Testing

AppLabs sees huge value proposition for its clients with agile-friendly automation suite

August, 11, 2009 – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, today announced a strategic partnership with AppLabs, the world’s largest software testing and quality management company. AppLabs has entered into an agreement with Original Software to take to market its innovative quality management suite. The agreement will likewise allow Original Software to position AppLabs’ services into its own customer base.

Scott Andress, Vice President, Global Alliances and Service Lines at AppLabs commented: “As a tool agnostic services company, we focus on putting the right solution into the right project. We’ve spotted a compelling value proposition for our clients with Original Software’s suite, which can be a great fit for most agile developments, can speed up time-to-market and can provide a silver bullet for those clients struggling to make the transition from manual to automated testing.”

The industry analysts agree. A recent Ovum report stated: ‘TestDrive-Assist provides you with a rich environment for manual testing, but the bigger payback is how it facilitates adoption of full automation. Uniquely for any of the guided manual test execution products that we know of, Original can automatically convert a manual TestDrive-Assist test into a fully automated TestDrive test that can be repeated.” “Overall this is a low risk, low cost way of progressively adopting test automation.” “It fits in with classic waterfall processes, and it can also be used in agile processes more easily than other functional test automation suites.”

“TestDrive-Assist cuts the time it takes to manually test in half, with some customers having recorded savings of 75-80 percent” said Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software. He continued: “This partnership not only provides us with a strong route to market, but allows us to add services to our expanding portfolio. AppLabs’ expertise in testing services and its global, skilled resource pool will be a valued addition to our offering, giving customers the option to outsource projects or business functions or take advantage of specialized consultancy to optimize their IT and business quality management and testing capabilities.”

Original Software Positioned as a Visionary in Magic Quadrant for Integrated Software Quality Suites

August, 6, 2009 – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, today announced that it has been placed in the ‘visionaries’ quadrant by leading analyst firm Gartner, Inc. in its recently published Magic Quadrant for Integrated Software Quality Suites, 31 July 2009.

“The total market for test management and functional and load/stress automation is currently valued at just under $1.2 billion, and is growing at more than 8% per year.” said Thomas Murphy in the report1. “Testing software can be an expensive process, but poor software quality leads to user dissatisfaction, as well as increased development and maintenance. Therefore, having a well-defined set of tools and practices to drive software quality will positively affect the overall business bottom line.”

The report evaluates fourteen vendors of software quality solutions based on a rigorous set of criteria that comprise ‘completeness of vision’ and ‘ability to execute’. Original Software has been positioned as a visionary.

Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software, said: “We consider our positioning in the visionaries quadrant to be confirmation of the real value that our approach to solving challenges in the quality process has brought to our users, extending the reach of these solutions within an organization and providing an early return on investment. We are now expanding on the unique work we have done, in reducing script maintenance, supporting manual testing, code-free automation and test data management, with the launch of a radical new ALM solution later this year.”

This report has recently been published by Gartner. More information can be found on the analyst page of Original Software’s website.

[1] Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Integrated Software Quality Suites” by Thomas Murphy, 31 July 2009.

About the Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2009 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Original Software offers ‘Escape’ for apprehensive Borland and Compuware customers

August, 3, 2009 – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, today announced a swap-out promotion, called the Escape program for customers of the soon to be engulfed companies, who face uncertainty in the future of their legacy product roadmaps.

Original Software offers market-leading AQM solutions that span the application development life-cycle from requirements, planning and management to complete automated regression testing, including unique solutions for manual testing and test data management.

Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software, said “Any customer on a current maintenance contract with Borland or Compuware can qualify for the Escape program and swap to one of our comparable solutions, provided they switch the maintenance agreement.” The promotion, which runs until the end of the year, includes preferential pricing on all the company’s other complimentary solutions.

“While MicroFocus has now completed the acquisitions of Borland and Compuware, the future for their customers is far from clear. It is inevitable that one of the solutions will take precedence, leaving the other customer base facing an unpleasant choice. You have to feel special sympathy for the users of the Borland testing products for who this is the second change of ownership in less than three years.”

“The great thing about the Escape program is that companies can remove the uncertainty about products futures and join a company whose vision has been widely recognized by industry analysts like Gartner and Ovum. At the same time they can benefit from great customer service and a modern AQM solution suite that addresses traditional automation and the now widely recognized needs for collaboration, manual test support and test data management”.

Original Software throws its hat into the SOA ring

Chooses Green Hat to complete end-to-end SOA testing

July, 8, 2009 – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, is partnering with Green Hat, specialists in automated testing technology for integration and SOA, to deliver a unique end-to-end automated testing solution for multi-tiered applications that utilize SOA.

The combined strength and competencies of Original Software and Green Hat will enable customers to take advantage of a total Software Quality solution across the UI, web services and database layers, plus the SOA infrastructure, with all the ease of use and code free functionality that customers of both companies have come to rely on.

Gartner, Inc. notes that through 2010, 60% of unplanned downtime for SOA-based, loosely-coupled applications will be the result of application failure, compared to 40% for non-SOA-based applications. [“Model-Driven Application Management Is a ‘Must’ for Modern Architectures Such as SOA and Web 2.0”, Milind Govekar, July 10, 2008.]

Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software, said: “A number of our key clients and prospects working on SOA initiatives want a quality solution that extends the benefits of GUI testing to the entire integrated application. This alliance with Green Hat gives Original Software an important additional route to market and enables us to deliver a best of breed solution across the user interface, database layer, services, third party systems and middleware that will prevent unexpected costs and delays as critical applications become more complex.”

Business processes involving ERP and BPM systems are two areas affected by the introduction of SOA technologies. As the major ERP vendors introduce more services into their platforms, customers must go beyond GUI testing to assure the function and performance of the total system. Gartner, Inc. observes that when too much manual work is involved, it causes an inability to stay current with patches to packaged software and to deliver well-tested applications. [“Key Issues for Software Quality and Testing, 2008”, Thomas E. Murphy, August 8, 2008]

Continuous improvement expected in BPM projects requires regression testing from the beginning of the implementation. Many long-running BPM processes also touch systems outside their business unit and company. Process owners need end-to-end visibility to pinpoint the exact location of development errors or sub-optimal performance. Green Hat will OEM Original Software Solutions as part of their GH Tester for BPM offering.

“BPM project teams who want GUI testing as an element of a more complex integration and SOA testing framework have asked us to make this part of our offering,” said Peter Cole, President and CTO of Green Hat. “This alliance will give them a single point of contact for all their automated testing requirements.”

Ovum applauds Original Software’s agile compatibility

New analyst report is free to download from the vendor’s website

June, 22, 2009 – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, has received praise for its capabilities in enabling agile development in a recent report by independent industry analyst group, Ovum. In the report, written by Ovum analyst Paul Herzlich, the company’s solutions were applauded for being a better fit for agile processes than any competitive functional test automation suite.

“In its totality, Original’s suite is appropriate for automation specialists, non-technical testers and even business users for acceptance testing. It fits in with classic waterfall processes, and it can also be used in agile processes more easily than other functional test automation suites.” he states.

Colin Armitage, CEO of Original Software, said: The feedback from our customers has been resounding and we are pleased to see that the major analyst groups are acknowledging our leadership in this space. Customers practicing agile methodologies are finding our tools easy to implement, and the reuse and repeatability of our manual tests really pay off. Automation can be a powerful enabler in agile development and TestDrive’s self-healing technology adds value in each iteration, enabling scripts to be re-run even when the application under test has undergone tweaks and changes.

The Ovum report notes: “One area in which TestDrive-Assist can be surprisingly appropriate is in unstable, changing circumstances. The two most notable situations are the first release of an application and in agile processes.”

Herzlich continues: “By recording your manual test, you may not have the benefit of full automation, such as automatic data entry and validation. However, you do get an audit trail and clear information for reproducing bugs. The ability to automatically migrate your test to an automated one may pay off immediately, if you are lucky, but in any case, by the end of your scrum or iteration, it will form the foundation of a future automated test. “

This report has recently been published by Ovum and can be downloaded free of charge from Original Software’s website.

Local company raises money for Orphanage

With a Winchester-based Golf Marathon

June, 3, 2009 – Two Basingstoke-based IT professionals at Original Software, yesterday raised more than £3000 sponsorship for a Nepalese Orphanage by running a marathon combined with three full rounds of golf in one day.

George Wilson, one of the company’s founders, and Stuart Bishop, Head of Development, managed to complete the rather insane ‘Golf Marathon’ during daylight hours yesterday, setting off at about 6am from Horton Heath and running between South Winchester, Royal Winchester and Hockley Golf Courses, playing 18 holes at each.

Mr Wilson’s daughter who is doing voluntary work with the children out in Nepal, found out that the Orphanage was likely to have to close when their landlord decided to sell the premises. They are now desperately trying to raise money in order to fund a new home for their children.

The aim is to raise £5000 sponsorship to help with some of the costs of securing a new home for the children. By continuing to campaign for this cause, and through events such as this they are aiming to open people’s eyes to the children’s plight and gain as much sponsorship and support for this cause as possible.

Mr Wilson reported on yesterday’s event “Well, we did it! 27 miles including the three rounds of golf at three courses. It was a tough challenge but we achieved it and even managed to play some good golf! The last leg of the run was really hard and we are both pretty exhausted today. My thanks to everyone who sponsored us and continues to support the charity and for the help and support we received from each of the Golf Clubs – they have been really accommodating”.

If you are interested in finding out more or donating money to this great cause, please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/georgeandstuart

MOVING ON UP

Original Software Outgrows US Head Office

Chicago, April, 14, 2009 – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, has announced that, due to expansion, it is relocating its American headquarters to larger premises in Westmont IL.

Despite a down-turn in the global economy and gloomy market predictions for the IT industry, Original Software is bucking the trend and continues to grow at a strong pace. While its competitors are making mass redundancies and enforcing pay-cuts, Original software is still continuing to hire and the recent expansion has forced the re-location of its US Headquarters.

Greg Sengpiel, General Manager, Americas says: “The experts say that even in bad times, smart companies plan for good ones – that’s what we are doing. Our profits remain healthy and the company’s strategy is to invest in its business so that we are in a strong position to exploit the opportunities when the global economy and the IT market begin to pick up again.”

“Now is the best time to be expanding and investing in troubled assets” he says. “There is lots of good real-estate and many highly trained staff currently on the market. We firmly intend to capitalize during our period of growth and invest for future success.”

Consistently growing year-on-year, the company is carving out market share from its bigger rivals by producing a new breed of software quality solutions that solve the challenges posed by traditional functional test automation. Constantly exceeding expectations, the company is receiving great feedback from the top industry analyst groups. A new report has just been published by Ovum and can be downloaded free of charge from Original Software’s website.

Original Software is currently recruiting for three job vacancies at the new Westmont office. Interested parties can find full details here.

Original Software – Stirring Up a 5 Minute Revolution at TestExpo

What Can You Do in 5 Minutes?

March, 23, 2009 – Original Software, the Application Quality Management (AQM) vendor, is hoping to cause a stir at this year’s TestExpo show, held at the Congress Centre in London WC1 this Thursday (the 26th March).

Exhibiting on stand number three, Original Software will be proving it is possible to build and run a fully automated regression test in less than five minutes. Delegates will also have the chance to chat to experts and win a Nintendo Wii by taking part in an interactive game on the stand.

George Wilson, the company’s Operations Director will be speaking in the midday slot of the conference tack, and his presentation ‘The 5 Minute Quality Revolution’ is aimed at making QA professionals re-think their perceptions of automation and show them how they can heighten productivity. “In this live presentation I will not only build a regression test from scratch, but run the test, change the application under test and re-run the regression test again – All in five minutes and without touching a single piece of code! We are calling it the 5 minute quality revolution and in those 5 minutes I’ll make you re-think your views about automation. There is a perception in the industry that automation is complicated and time consuming to achieve – many users have been scarred by solutions that take years to set up with lengthy builds and high maintenance scripts – we want to prove them wrong!”

TestExpo is one of the best UK software testing events and is free to attend for all pre-registered delegates. It includes a full programme of free presentations and lectures given by experts from the top companies in testing. Join us there by registering online at http://www.testexpo.co.uk.

Debenhams sets store by improved quality

Retailer invests for the future in TestBench

February, 3, 2009 – Debenhams, the leading department stores group, has turned to Original Software to help save its IT department time and money, enabling it to deliver system enhancements more rapidly and raise the quality of its dotcom website through more thorough testing of the back-end systems that drive it.

With online sales bucking the retail trend in the current economic slowdown, the Debenhams.com site is of strategic importance to the group. Now more than ever before, ensuring the quality of, and IT service delivery to, the online shop front, is vital to capitalising on its success.

Dominic Nash, Business Systems Controller at Debenhams is anticipating significant time and resource savings as a result of their investment in Original Software. “It’s been just a few weeks, but we’re already up and running with the system, and a task that had previously taken us more than two weeks – extracting test data – took less than half a day using TestBench”.

The Debenhams team wanted a comprehensive solution to help with unit, system, end-to-end, and regression testing of their IBM systems, which were largely being manually tested up until this point. They undertook comprehensive study of tools on the market, looking at performance, ease-of-use and specific product features.

Nash continued: “The functionality in TestBench is first rate. Being able to automate tests to run overnight will generate substantial time-savings. The database extraction tool allows us to quickly and easily extract data from the live systems, creating a subset for use in a realistic testing environment. You can create checkpoints, rolling back the changes and resetting the environment if it becomes corrupted by any testing activity and TestBench is so user-friendly it’s taken us virtually no time at all to get up and running.”

“The same Debenhams team will prove even more advantageous to the business, delivering applications with increased agility, improving efficiency and raising service levels across the board.” concludes Nash.

About Debenhams plc
Debenhams is a leading department stores group with a strong presence in key product categories including Womenswear, Menswear, Childrenswear, Home and Health and Beauty. Debenhams has a total of 140 department stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and 10 Desire by Debenhams stores, which is a small store concept featuring a mix of womenswear, accessories, lingerie, cosmetics and childrenswear. Debenhams has 44 international franchise stores in 15 countries and an online store, www.debenhams.com, through which much of the Debenhams range is available.

Debenhams is the second largest department store chain in the UK.

Remain and Original Software provide an innovative and robust platform for Software Change Management and integrated testing

Nieuwegein, The Netherlands

January, 3, 2009 – Remain, developer of Software Change Management solutions for the IBM i (System i and iSeries) market and Original Software, the software quality solution vendor, today announced a strategic partnership to provide their best-of-breed technologies as an integrated Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solution. Original Software’s suite of testing solutions will be incorporated with Remain’s TD/OMS Software Change Management suite to cover the whole process from development to test, to acceptance and production. Remain will become a key distributor for Original Software throughout the Benelux region.

The integrated platform will provide a comprehensive ALM solution which will enable enterprises to adopt best practice in a seamless strategy to deliver quality and speed-to-market for IT projects. Remain’s reseller partners, Valok Global Midrange Software Solutions in Australia and Hista in Argentina, who both also offer expertise on the Original Software solutions, will have the advantage of being able to offer their customers all the benefits of an integrated solution.

“We are exited about this partnership. By combining best of both worlds we will be able to offer high quality support for the total software life cycle process.” says Marco Kok, Remain’s Director, responsible for Sales and Marketing. “Our companies have same ideas about adoption, implementation and the productivity of our solutions”.

George Wilson, Operations Director of Original Software said: “We are very happy to have Remain Software as a partner. They will be the focal point of contact for all our quality solutions throughout the Benelux region. Remain are well respected and offer a competitive and strong solution in the Software Change Management market. By integrating our testing solutions both companies will open new opportunities in the market place, benefiting users with a state-of-the art ALM solution for the IBM Systemi”.

About Remain

Since 1992, Remain has been developing software change management solutions for the IBM midrange System i market place to help companies to support their business applications.

‘TD/OMS’ controls the entire software change process from the System i platform, where the product’s repository resides. Changes can be tracked from incident to fix, through test, acceptance, and posting to the live production environment. It handles validation, user sign-off, and documentation of software changes. There is also a fully integrated helpdesk functionality which registers incidents and change requests.

These robust benefits are not limited to the System i environment. Programmers using Windows and UNIX can employ ‘TD/OMS’ functionality to upload software components to the System i. Furthermore, the product supports both unattended component deployment from the System i to UNIX and Windows environments and the installation of deployed code within those environments. Remain incorporates latest technology in order to approach and support the software life cycle process in a modern way. For more information please visit www.remainsoftware.com.