Borland adds ‘Track and Trace’ to apps testing tool

Borland Software on Wednesday is upgrading its Optimizeit Java application testing tool, adding “Track and Trace” functions for distributed performance analysis.

The company’s Optimizeit ServerTrace DataCenter 2.0 product is intended to enable quality assurance analysts to verify development quality, according to Bill Pataky, director of product marketing and management for the Java business unit at Borland. Version 2.0’s Track and Trace capability gathers performance data in real-time across Java Virtual Machines and application servers. This enables performance analysis across large, distributed systems or clustered systems.

Originally a product of Vmgear, which was acquired by Borland, Optimizeit ServerTrace streamlines development and testing of J2EE applications, identifying performance hazards before deployment, isolating problems at the component level across distributed systems.

Optimizeit ServerTrace provides a way to develop complex J2EE systems that can meet service-level agreements without users having to resort to buying bigger servers to accommodate performance needs, Pataky said.

“When you’re dealing with big systems with dozens of processors and you’re spending over $20,000 per CPU on the software problem, [adding more servers is] a pretty ineffective way to solve the problem,” Pataky said.

“The way to actually solve the problem is to look at the way your application is behaving and find out how time and resources are being spent in your application,” he said.

Optimizeit ServerTrace enables quality assurance analysts to gauge how to modify a configuration to boost performance, said Pataky. These analysts then can communicate problems to developers, who would fix them.

The new System DataCenter View feature in Version 2.0 provides a view into complex interactions of components of J2EE systems for easier isolation of performance problems without requiring in-depth knowledge of the application architecture.

Another new feature, Component Performance Views, provides a performance breakdown of J2EEE components, such as Java Message Service and Java database connections, to locate where time is spent and where problems are. TotalCapture Snapshots, also a new function in Version 2.0, provides a communications framework around performance for test teams and developers to resolve problems. PDF reporting capabilities, meanwhile, allow for sharing and archiving of performance analyses.

Shipping in late-September, Version 2.0 is priced at $20,000.