We fielded a request from a customer for this information, and once I'd compiled it, I thought it was worth sharing.  Hope this helps someone else out there! Here is a collection of resources around RTW and its family of products, and about licensing, including "Virtual Tester Packs" (VT Packs).   Rational Test Workbench About the Rational Test Workbench installation http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSBLQQ_9.0.0/com.ibm.rational.rtw.install.doc/topics/c_installation_overview.html Rational Test Workbench package... [More]

In February 2016 IBM made available "RPT on Cloud" which uses SoftLayer public cloud to generate a load, from any of the dozens of SoftLayer Data Centers all over the world. There is a trial period, and it's pay-as-you-go (PAYGO), which means if you don't test in a given month, you don't pay anything at all. IBM now has created a new capability - I call it "RPT on Private Cloud" but it does not have an official name yet. With this new capability, you can use VMWare inside your own corporate network to generate... [More]

If you receive support subscription updates from IBM for RTW & RTVS, you might have seen this in the last day or two: 3.  Rational Performance Test Server: Downloads and drivers - TITLE: Rational Performance Test Server, Apache Commons Collections Patch - URL: http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/quickorder?product=ibm%2FRational%2FRational+Performance+Test+Server&fixids=Rational-RPTS-ACCPatch&source=myna&myns=swgrat&mynp=OCSSBLUB&mync=E&cm_sp=swgrat-_-OCSSBLUB-_-E - ABSTRACT: Rational Performance Test Server... [More]

Tags:  rational-integration-test... rtcp rit

I caught up with a very major customer last week.  They use AIT (Automated Integration Testing) and Service Virtualization (SV). Back in February, during their first major implementation, they had about 250 active stubs (a.k.a., Virtual Services) deployed.  Eventually that major effort got its real back-ends, and they un-deployed all of them! Now, they're doing a major RESTful/Mobile effort with an estimated 150 Virtual Services. So there are only 150 Virtual Services deployed and running - not 400. They have only 3-4 projects... [More]

Tags:  rtw-rtvs-value-prop ait-sv-value-prop

The term Shift Left refers to a practice in software development where teams focus on quality, work on prevention instead of detection, and begin testing earlier than ever before . The goal is to increase quality, shorten long test cycles, and reduce the possibility of unpleasant surprises at the end of the development cycle—or still worse, in production. In many organizations, automated testing of today’s composite applications is being executed via the user interface, once the complete application has been developed and deployed.... [More]

Tags:  service-virtualization integration-testing continuous-testing api-testing shift-left

Just a short note to make all aware of some upcoming webcasts. The content to be presented during these events should really help teams address their continuous testing and continuous deployment challenges.   Shift Left to better business results: Speed delivery of higher quality software. October 15, 2014 - 1 pm ET Many of today's organizations struggle to deliver quality software at the speed their users demand. Successful organizations are moving to a DevOps approach and shifting testing to the left. But what does a shift left... [More]

Tags:  shift-left continuous-testing integration-testing continuous-delivery continuous-deployment test-automation devops

IBM can notify you when useful technical activity occurs  - for example, TechNotes are published or APARs are opened (or closed).  It's can be a bit difficult to find it (there are no links from any TechNote page, oddly enough),  so here's a tip on how to subscribe. You can set up the notifications at https://www-947.ibm.com/systems/support/myview/subscription/css.wss/folders?methodName=listMyFolders You want to click 'subscribe' then click 'Rational' - my subscription to 'Rational Test Virtualization... [More]

Did you hear the news? IBM Innovate is on the move for 2015. After nine great years at the Swan and Dolphin resort in Orlando, Innovate is leaving the land of children theme parks and headed back to Vegas - the adult playground in the desert. And with planning already underway, I am sure this will be a very exciting event for all who decide to attend. Why not join us? Now, if you weren't aware, the  InterConnect  website is up and running providing the most recent event information. The latest announcement is that the... [More]

Tags:  innovate ibmrational devops pulse service-virtualization quality-management impact interconnect test-automation

Recently, on August 28, 2014, Gartner, Inc. positioned IBM as a leader in the published 2014 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Integrated Software Quality Suites (ISQ) report. For the report, Gartner evaluated 14 worldwide vendors, recognizing IBM moving to the number one spot in the leaders quadrant based on its completeness of vision and ability to execute. Testing is one of the key processes in the software development life cycle. The market has been steadily maturing to deliver improved user success,... [More]

I spent last week working with a technology firm that depends on web services offered by healthcare.gov. It was very interesting to peek behind the curtain.  We' ve all seen the congressional hearings, and heard the talking heads shouting at each other. But in the real world where we bring technology to bear on real problems, I found that Rational Test Workbench & Rational Test Virtualization Server could help this customer in many ways! We see problems with SOA implementations at many customers - but rarely do we see all the... [More]

Have you ever wondered how much time is lost to non-productive work and how test teams struggle to deal with these lost hours? Particularly when their managers believe that they are continuously testing the software being developed for the benefit of the company they work for.  If you are like me, perhaps you want to know the impact of these testing interruptions - adhoc meetings, processing email, etc? Were some tests being deferred or ignored entirely because the Testers were addressing these "busy work" requests? How... [More]

Tags:  test-automation testing-bottlenecks service-virtualization software-quality quality-management

Yesterday I was tuned into a popular music station for youngsters in the Netherlands. On that radio show they called the Vice-President of the European Commission Neelie Kroes. She is a well-known, highly rated, person in the Dutch politics and already for years she is a high profile European Commission member covering the Digital Agenda which includes ICT. As US regulations touch us here in Europe, you must have noticed that Windows provides you with a selection of browsers. A very visible result of her work, Kroes demanded that Microsoft... [More]

Tags:  business ec commision kroes european coding

The definition of a Test Centre of Excellence (TCoE) can be quite varied. Some are all about governance and some are more concerned with being resource pools and central areas for providing tooling. Here are some thoughts on the former approach. I’m not a fan of bureaucracy, or more accurately, rules that I don’t want to follow. In my career as a software tester, it always gave me great frustration when I had to test in a fully prescribed, “best practice” fashion. I really hate the term best practice. Yes, there are... [More]

I originally posted this here  in the membership only forum of the  Integration Testing Learning Circle  but realised that a more public airing would be appropriate.  So here it is: Ask “Why?” Ask “How?” Or if you prefer the more boring title that I decided against: “Consider statements of fact in context and question them.” This is something that I believe everyone should keep in mind when looking at any product but it is especially prudent when looking at integration... [More]

It’s amazing to reflect back on how far service virtualization technology has come in the last two years since IBM acquired Green Hat.   Back then, when I spoke with customers, they would either say “what’s service virtualization?”, or they would refer to it as a cool new technology that they’ve been meaning to investigate. What a difference two years makes.  The recent report ,... [More]

Tags:  agile-transformation continuous-testing agile service-virtualization

I thought the entry I posted in the Learning Circle might also be of interest to this community. You can find it at What's the most confusing thing about tests vs "virtual services"?

Many large financial institutions rely heavily on back-end mainframe systems for completion of regression testing of distributed systems.  Challenges arise from several aspects of testing.  The mainframe needs to be available during the testing phase which can be a challenge, but also as critical is the fact that the data that is contained in the mainframe needs to remain in sync with the data that was used to create the regression tests.  This is a challenge for several reasons. Typically developers and testers concerned with... [More]

Within the context of a complex middleware development project, attempting to work on “next release” deliverables prior to  gaining formal acceptance of the current release and reaching a “baselined” status can be a frustrating (and risky) exercise.    By their very nature, large development environments tend to be a little thin on the ground due to their associated licensing, hardware and maintenance costs -often projects will run only one “DEV” environment.  As a customer goes through... [More]

Tags:  service stub integration testing automation stubbing virtualization

    English version IBM has been working with several companies for many years, and helped them be more efficient and reduce costs with a broad portfolio of products.  Service Testing and Virtualization is another opportunity for IBM to add value to customers operation. The solution is not just about a software tool. IBM proposes a comprehensive plan of software tools, implementation services, staff training, ongoing education and regular scheduled health checks to ensure the software solution is being implemented with best... [More]