QualiSystems adds web access to Testshell 5.0 test automation system

QualiSystems has announced the latest version of TestShell, its software framework for lab management and test automation. The new version of TestShell offers object-oriented automation paired with an easy-to-use web client, resulting in accelerated testing, increased test lab productivity, and cost savings, the company claims.

TestShell’s object-oriented architecture offers a next-generation approach to automation based on a set of reusable objects or building blocks that replace script-based approaches. TestShell enables more scalable and sustainable automation deployments that dramatically accelerate testing cycles.

With the addition of an easy-to-use web interface and expanded domain management, TestShell 5.0 now enables a broader set of users – including remote workers, consultants, and external contractors – to view and reserve lab resources, resulting in accelerated testing, increased productivity and cost savings, according to QualiSystems.

Lab management is evolving to include consolidation or federation of multiple labs, with remote access from an increasing variety of users that have different levels of sophistication or access rights. QualiSystems is adding web access to TestShell to make consumption of costly lab resources easier for users beyond traditional test engineers. TestShell 5.0 also expands the types of user domains that administrators can create, including domains with time-bound, project-oriented visibility and reservation access. This enables secure lab resource usage by external contractors and consultants.

“QualiSystems is bringing needed innovation to the business of test and lab automation,” said Jim Metzler, vice president of consultancy group Ashton Metzler. “By broadening the capability of IT managers to offer the benefits of lab automation to additional user groups, it is helping organizations accelerate product and service time to market through more efficient test cycles.”

TestShell 5.0 also expands automated test execution scalability. Increased flexibility in managing test queuing and scheduling across multiple, distributed execution stations reduces the need for manual intervention. This makes test automation execution more efficient and allows automation to scale to cover an increased percentage of testing processes. (For more on this trend, see "Who's afraid of test automation?").

“TestShell 5.0 framework eliminates bottlenecks to test lab consolidation by providing users with a wider variety of access methods and administrators with greater flexibility in defining access control,” said Alex Henthorn-Iwane, vice president of marketing for QualiSystems. “With TestShell‘s usage expanding beyond the core set of engineers, we are enabling our customers to expand the utility, adoption and scalability of initiatives to turn manually operated test labs into highly automated infrastructure service clouds.”

TestShell 5.0 will be available to customers beginning in early July 2013.

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