MS to expedite software testing

Microsoft has unveiled a virtual hard disc (VHD) test drive program, which allows customers to evaluate its enterprise software and products from its software partners in a fraction of the time it would normally take.

The software maker announced the new program ahead of VMware's VMworld show, where it will give booth demonstrations of its application virtualisation, server virtualisation and virtualisation management tools.

The VHD program is a first for Microsoft and for the more than 7 000 software vendors that can now deliver pre-configured applications within Windows Server-based virtual machines to their customers, said Mike Neil, senior director of virtualisation strategy for Microsoft's Windows Server Division.

Software developers are getting more tools that take advantage of virtualisation to streamline the application testing and quality assurance processes, reports eWeek.

In advance of its VMworld show in Los Angeles, VMware unveiled Lab Manager, designed to enable enterprises to automatically provision data centre resources for application development teams.

For its part, VMLogix on the same day launched its first commercial product, LabManager, which - while not a virtualisation platform - enables enterprises to leverage multiple virtualisation technologies to make it easier for engineers to create applications.

Empirix has announced that global systems integration company Serene selected Empirix's automated software testing product, e-TEST suite as the basis for a new CRM application testing service. Serene's service, called Performance, Scalability, Reliability & Tuning (PSRT), is designed to help clients enjoy smooth CRM application roll-outs and upgrades.

Serene has already completed several highly successful projects with e-TEST suite, performing pre-deployment testing on both the Siebel 7.7 and 7.8 product lines.

As Serene observed, one of the benefits to leveraging Empirix's e-TEST suite technology is that it integrates seamlessly with Siebel Test Automation, which includes both Siebel Client Automation Services (CAS) for functional testing and the Siebel Correlation Library for load testing. In addition, e-TEST suite is validated for Siebel 7.8 and supports APIs for all Siebel applications.