Data Center Strategies for the CIO
Touting it as mainframe software that can pinpoint defects in Web applications, IBM released Thursday Rational Performance Tester for z/OS, saying that it validates the performance and security of key software applications on Big Iron.
The main purpose for Rational Performance Tester (RPT) is for load and stress testing, allowing customers to expose vulnerabilities that surface in simulations featuring thousands of potential users -- without having to deal with such headaches after the fact.
"It can mimic the activity of 1,000 of users," said Jeff Schuster, the senior director of product management for IBM Rational. "And [it can help] gain a sense of how the application will respond from a functionality and performance perspective … and identify vulnerabilities that might be attacked by hackers."
RPT uses emulation technology to simulate the activities of thousands of simultaneous users of enterprise applications, clearing the way for zSeries users to validate application performance before deployment.
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IBM used the banking industry as an example of how RPT can be used. The software can simulate thousands of users making online inquiries to their bank account balances at the same time and proactively uncover application performance and quality issues in the test lab before the application is put into production.
IBM Rational Performance Tester for z/OS works with IBM Rational Functional Tester Extension for terminal-based applications, which provides an advanced set of performance and functional testing tools for mainframe-based applications and generates tests that check potential application loopholes, such as account login validation, for security concerns.
When application problems have been pinpointed, users can share testing results by using the Rational Software Development Platform, allowing the development team to fix the issue.
IBM said this new software is the only product in the marketplace that allows the use of mainframes as the load generation platform to apply stress to Web applications running on Windows, Unix and mainframe systems.
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Rational Performance Tester is available for the current version of the IBM zSeries mainframe operating system. Pricing starts at $2,850 for U.S. customers.
Let us know what you think about the story; e-mail: Luke Meredith, News Writer
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