BIOS: Technology Means Business

France-based Neotys, a producer of stress and load testing tools for Web applications, has released a new version of its flagship product, NeoLoad.

NeoLoad version 2.0 promises all the cost-effective, easy-to-use features of the original version, with the addition of simplified scenario creation and improved test monitoring, analysis and reporting.

“NeoLoad version 2.0 reaffirms our strong belief that businesses shouldn’t have to compromise quality for lower costs,” says Stephane Jammet, vice president of Sales & Business Development at Neotys.

“This new edition delivers all the capabilities of the more expensive Web performance testing tools at a fraction of the price and it’s extremely easy to use. In a matter of minutes, new NeoLoad users can design and run their first performance test and generate a comprehensive performance and scalability report.”

NeoLoad version 2.0 offers fast and easy scenario creation for complex applications. The new features specific to scenario creation include a wizard for the automatic handling of dynamic parameters generated by the server, which eliminates labour-intensive and time-consuming manual parameterisation. There is also enhanced .NET support, which automates the detection and management of .NET parameters Viewstate and Eventvalidation.

Advanced scenario customisation offers advanced tools for scenario parameterisation so as to make each scenario as realistic as possible without any scripting and with no programming language required. Finally, a multiple authentication wizard enables the definition and use of different account profiles to log into secured applications while a test is in progress.

“NeoLoad was chosen as our load generation tool after an exhaustive search that included free open source products and very expensive top-of-the-line load solutions,” says Josh Schlesser, vice president of technology at The Active Network. “It was clear almost immediately that we’d made a very wise decision choosing NeoLoad. The product saves us significant time over open-source solutions and we soon realised that we really didn’t need all the features in the more expensive tools. The advances in NeoLoad version 2.0 reflect the practical features we’ve come to expect from Neotys and we’re eager to begin running it as soon as possible.”

In addition to advanced scenario creation, NeoLoad version 2.0 also delivers improved live monitoring features and new powerful graphs for more in-depth analysis, as well as nine new optional modules - including a SOAP module for Web services support and several modules for dedicated platform and server monitoring. The SOAP module enables the design of SOAP requests from a WSDL file, or else manually from a specific interface, and is the industry’s most cost-effective tool for testing the robustness of SOA architectures, claims the company.

The platform and server monitoring modules are specifically dedicated to remote server monitoring. An agentless design ensures hassle-free installation of any program on the monitored servers. Performance counters such as CPU usage, network bandwidth and active connections pool size are collected while the test is running - making it easy to track any performance concerns. Dedicated monitoring modules support numerous environments, including Windows, HTTP, Apache, Linux, Solaris, RSTAT, SNMP, WebLogic, and WebSphere.

[Best Software Pricing UK]
[Best Software Pricing US]