Micro Focus Announces New Approach to IBM Mainframe Application Testing

Micro Focus, the leading provider of enterprise application modernization, testing and management solutions, today released Micro Focus Test Server<1> a unique technology that will accelerate testing processes while significantly reducing operating costs. Customers such as the largest listed Portuguese bank, Banco Espirito Santo (BES), are implementing Micro Focus Test Server to enable them to improve software quality by increasing available mainframe test capacity on a Windows platform. Micro Focus Test Server is an IBM z/OS compatible environment where application execution behaves just as it would on the target production mainframe. This makes it possible to perform a broad range of pre-production testing on readily available hardware. Testing capacity can now be easily increased to meet business-critical timeframes without incurring prohibitive costs.

Micro Focus Test Server is the first and only IBM mainframe-compatible solution for system, user acceptance and integration testing. Eddie Houghton, Product Director at Micro Focus, comments: “There are significant numbers of IBM mainframes in use across the world and 76 per cent of CIOs view them as integral to their business today<2>. Applications running on IBM mainframes are nearly always business-critical. It is therefore crucial to provide sufficient test cycles to ensure the software meets the demands of the business and its customers.”

“Rehosting testing is a win-win solution for organizations with mainframe capacity issues,” continues Houghton. “It not only allows businesses to contain or cut costs by removing the need to invest in extra MIPS, it also enables testing to be completed faster without compromising quality. Test cycles are no longer constrained by scarce mainframe processing power. Additionally, Test Server demonstrates the feasibility for risk-free deployment of production systems off the IBM mainframe to realise further, significant cost savings.

Leading Portuguese bank BES has been quick to realize the opportunity. Senior IT Manager at BES, José Caetano Pereira, explains: “We needed to find an innovative solution that would facilitate higher quality, scalable testing. By detecting errors earlier in the software development lifecycle, we will be able to deliver changes faster and deliver more robust software through to the User Acceptance Test phase and subsequent production.”