The ITKO Blog: Service Virtualization and Application Lifecycle Optimization - CA Technologies

New Analyst Product Report: LISA 5.0 Technical Audit - Ovum

Useful news out today about some available research -- iTKO recently participated in an independent product review of our latest LISA version 5 Suite with UK-based analyst firm Ovum (formerly Butler Group) principal analyst Rob Hailstone, The research was not sponsored by iTKO, however we have purchased rights to the report so you can download it free for a limited time at http://itko.com/ovum.

In the report, Hailstone provides this overall assessment of LISA's market:

"LISA Suite provides a comprehensive set of testing capabilities that will allow customers to improve the effectiveness of their QA function for SOA or other component-based development environments. The functional modules can be enabled individually to satisfy point-solution testing requirements, but make most sense when deployed together as an integrated suite.

LISA Suite is targeted at large organizations serious about the use of SOA, but limited deployments at the department level provide a common entry level. Organizations deploying applications into a public or private cloud will benefit from the end-to-end visibility and root-cause analysis provided. LISA Suite is less appropriate for smaller organizations or those using SOA technology for simple integration."

For many years, LISA was often considered by market analysts only as a "SOA Testing" tool, which is a useful definition, but not necessarily one that represents the scope of many of today's development and performance challenges for teams dealing with complex, distributed architectures. This document points out it's also not just about SOA, as many enterprises are more concerned with BPM, Virtualization and Cloud, which are not tied to a specific architectural style or approach.

Why did we license the report? Well, after a comprehensive functionality comparison and walkthrough process, we think the report Rob produced provides a pithy overview of LISA 5 software. You can download your own copy and decide for yourself...

News Today: Enabling the Defense Community in the Cloud with LISA Virtual Dev & Testing

Today iTKO issues a press release about our support for Forge.Mil, a collaborative software environment for the U.S. Department of Defense. As many of you know we have been following the dedicated work of DISA (DoD’s IT arm), and LISA-enabling their leading partners (such as Harris, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon, and many others) over the last 5 years, as a part of certifying and test services that are contributing to deliver functionality to the warfighter.

Here's the official press release out today:

Optimized Software Virtualization, Test and Validation in the Cloud for U.S. Department of Defense

DISA's Forge.Mil Initiative to Offer Shared TestForge Services in the Cloud, Enabling Faster Delivery of Capabilities to the Warfighter Through Software Release Efficiencies

Most discussion of Cloud to date is focused on either the infrastructure itself (the actual servers and running VMs, or IaaS - Infrastructure as as Service), or the applications themselves that are hosted on Cloud (for instance a SaaS-based offering). But how do we successfully deliver today's complex applications, when all the dependencies and constraints of unavailable systems drag teams down? Nowhere would this challenge be more evident than in Defense, where the work of many distributed teams must go on, while at the same time critical live systems must be secured against the volatility of testing and development.

Forge.Mil contains a Cloud-based community called TestForge - with a built-in Platform as a Service (PaaS) for Virtual Service Environments, so all development and test contributors can have 24/7 availability without impacting live systems, and create new levels of efficiency. The Forge.Mil initiative (which includes TestForge, SourceForge as well as providing a cloud platform for other aspects of software lifecycle management) proves that in many aspects of IT governance and innovation, federal agencies continue to lead the way over the private sector. Optimizing software in this sense can not only save time and money, but lives in the field. Thanks to everyone who has helped drive this vision.

Agile Cloud Development: Go Forth and Do the Wrong Things, Faster

Horror stories abound in the cloud... and fearful pundits rule the day, questioning the viability, security, or unknown costs of the enterprise adopting Cloud. But the reality is, it is going to happen anyway. Why? Because developers and testers can afford to adopt it on an as-needed basis without a capital expense mandate, and cloud allows software teams to fail faster.

Cloud is not just some "cheaper pay-per-use place" you deploy your apps. It is the culmination of distributed software development processes. The ideas of SOA, BPM, loose coupling, all play into the design of enterprise software for Cloud.

The beauty of developing and testing in the Cloud is not guaranteed success. It is that we can fail far faster, and at a much lower cost. One of our partner sales friends recently sent me this excellent little speech from CSC's expat Mark Masterson (check his blog here):

(Uh, whoever that bank is at about (13:40) in this clip, who lost $500M+ waiting for teams to have sequential access to test environments, needs a Virtual Services Environment to not only provision infrastructure with VMs, but also simulate those off-cloud dependencies in far lower cost for Cloud.)

I like what Mark is saying about companies being obsessed with reducing the risk of failure rather than the cost of failure. They spend all of their energy with a balance-sheet mentality - ensuring that any expenditure has less risk of failure, and in turn, delay projects and limit their options. Driving down the cost of failure is what enables real agility - allowing companies to delay their decisions to deduce the most optimal directions.

As a musician I make a point out of failing faster. The reason for practicing with others is not to play the music perfectly - instead, it is about going for it, and getting all the bad notes and bad ideas out, before you invest in recording or playing live. The same goes for software. If you had unlimited, low-cost ability to try options, rather than having to predict the one with the least chance of failure, you would find the best one much quicker.

Cloud is going to be the reality of distributed enterprise applications, because no matter what the pundits say, before it is a deployment option, it is an optimal platform for agile software development and testing. So get out there, and fail faster!