Breaking News - Oracle Announces Oracle Application Testing Suite; Oracle IT Service Management Suite Certified ITIL Compatible

Oracle today announced availability of the Oracle Application Testing Suite, the latest addition to Oracle Enterprise Manager's suite of Application Quality Management products.

The Oracle Application Testing Suite provides an integrated solution for load testing, functional testing and test management, enabling customers to thoroughly test packaged, Web and SOA-based applications and their underlying infrastructure to help ensure optimum quality, scalability, and availability. With this announcement, Oracle is adding to its existing portfolio of testing solutions, Moe Fardoost, Oracle director of product marketing, told 5 Minute Briefing. Oracle Application Testing Suite incorporates technology acquired earlier this year with the e-TEST suite Web application testing products from Empirix. As a result, Oracle now offers “a complete testing solution” for both Web applications - as well as database applications and secure data sharing, which were part of pre-existing capabilities within Oracle, he said.

Key components of Oracle Application Testing Suite include Oracle Load Testing for Web Applications. “This is the component that allows you to generate tens of thousands of simultaneous requests so that you can stress-test your application,” said Fardoost. Another component, Oracle Functional Testing for Web Applications, enables comprehensive functional testing of applications and Web services and is a “huge” productivity boost, noted Fardoost. Its transaction engine simplifies automated test script generation and enables the automation of complex Web applications and associated technologies out-of-the-box to validate the end-user’s experience. Finally, Oracle Test Manager for Web Applications “is the component that really helps you manage the whole testing task from planning to scheduling to defect management,” said Fardoost.
“Testing has always been a major part of the application lifecycle and we have been aware of the challenges customers have in trying to get better quality with less resources and with fewer skills,” Fardoost explained. With the new capabilities for Web application testing, Oracle offers maximum automation of load and functional testing, enabling organizations to reduce their testing effort by as much as 50 percent as well as better utilize less skilled IT resources, said Fardoost.

Oracle also today announced Oracle IT Service Management Suite has been certified as ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) compatible through the PinkVERIFY IT Service Management (ITSM) certification program. Key components of the Oracle IT Service Management Suite include Siebel CRM HelpDesk, Oracle Enterprise Manager and Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition.

Source: www.dbta.com

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Pacific Crest Says Oracle Earnings Could Come in Short

Concerns are growing about Oracle (ORCL). In the latest in a series of cautious Street comments on its upcoming earnings report, Pacific Crest’s Brendan Barnicle Monday morning warned that revenues for the fiscal first quarter ended August could come in short of Street expectations. He says that the quarter closed weaker than he expected. Barnicle says that the company likely to have a 2% headwind from currency in the quarter, after a 6% benefit last quarter.

Barnicle says the weakness reflects “nothing more than seasonality and currency,” and there has been no change in the company’s business fundamentally. But he does say the company faces a difficult comparison with the year-earlier quarter. “Our contacts report that the pipeline remains solid for Q2, and management has not demonstrated an excessive reaction to Q1,” he writes. “Nevertheless, Q1 is likely to be lackluster, at best, and Q2 guidance is also likely to be at best in line with current expectations.”

Barnicle trimmed his revenue estimate for Q1 to $5.44 billion from $5.52 billion; the Street is at $5.45 billion. For Q2, he goes to $6.4 billion, from $6.47 billion. For the full fiscal year ending May 2009, his EPS estimate slips to $1.56 from $1.57; for fiscal 2010 he goes to $1.85, from $1.88.

Oracle will report earnings on September 18.

Oracle closed Monday down 81 cents, or 4%, to $19.26.

Source: seekingalpha.com

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SOA buy for Oracle

Oracle is to buy ClearApp, a maker of software for managing the performance of composite applications in SOA (service-oriented architecture) environments.

ClearApp's software automatically discovers application components and their dependencies at runtime and monitors performance.

ZapThink analyst Jason Bloomberg says ClearApp's technology provides "deep visibility into the components underlying SOA-based composite applications", but the acquisition also raises questions, as it follows related purchases by Oracle of companies like Auptyma and Moniforce, he says.

"Oracle does have quite a bit of experience in assimilating acquired technologies, and they're also known for taking care of the customers that come along as a result, but every such acquisition sets the bar of success higher for them," Bloomberg says.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Author: Chris Kanaracus @ computerworld.co.nz

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