Daily Archives: 07/02/2012

ATandT Tops in Mobile App Dev, Testing Services: IDC

AT&T took the top spot in a recent survey asking which vendors deliver the best mobile application development and testing services, according to IDC.

In the survey involving 350 U.S. respondents, International Data Corp. asked enterprise users about their perceptions of vendors who offer services in mobile application development (AD) and mobile testing services for applications and devices. While AT&T took top honors, Verizon and IBM ranked second and third, respectively. Overall strength of brand had a significant influence on vendor selection, IDC said.

"Success as a provider of discrete or bundled mobile-application development and/or testing services will require players to highlight a combination of their technical and business competencies and experience in highly iterative mobile prototyping and validation, as well as availability of end-to-end mobile lifecycle services,” said Rona Shuchat, director of application development, testing and management services at IDC, in a statement. “Enterprise customers are challenged by the rapid pace of and investment required in mobile technology platforms, and many plan to leverage a range of professional project or fully outsourced mobile application services."

IDC delivered two reports, one on mobile application development and another on mobile application testing. In the mobile application development arena, survey respondents identified four key findings, including that reusable frameworks are needed to lower development costs. The survey showed that enterprises are looking for providers who can lower the cost of development with code reusability and cross-platform portability frameworks. Demand for skill sets to use the latest development techniques across multiple mobile OS platforms is high with 35 percent of respondents seeing this as a primary challenge.

Read More:

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/ATandT-Tops-in-Mobile-App-Dev-Testing-Services-IDC-538776/

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The Next Phase of Web Application Security Testing?

For years, security researchers have used the terms "black box" and "white box" to describe dynamic and static web application security analysis, respectively. IBM is now seeking to combine the best of both approaches by introducing a new approach called "Glass Box."

"We use the terms ‘black box’ and ‘dynamic analysis’ interchangeably, and basically that’s looking at a functioning application in a web browser and evaluating its state to identify potential vulnerabilities," Patrick Vandenberg, program director for IBM Security, told InternetNews.com. "’Static analysis’ we use interchangeably with white box testing and that’s looking at source code before it is compiled to root out potential vulnerabilities."

IBM historically has provided black box testing by way of its AppScan portfolio. AppScan was expanded in 2010 with a source code edition that can do static, white box analysis.

With its latest release of AppScan standard edition 8.5, IBM is now taking that capability one step further by introducing the new Glass Box approach. With Glass Box, AppScan installs agents on a server to instrument the code, while also applying dynamic analysis techniques.

"In so doing we’re getting the real-world validation that you get from black box testing as well as getting inside the box, and that delivers phenomenal improvements in accuracy," Vandenberg said.

When it comes to root cause analysis using Glass Box, Vandenberg noted that users are limited in what they can see from an instrumentation perspective. That said, Vandenberg added that the system is able to provide coverage for all the vulnerabilities that a user would be able to find from a static analysis perspective within the context of a web application.

Full static analysis is still required for non-web applications as well as from a process perspective.

"Really the root cause is sitting in development where all these vulnerabilities are first introduced to the code," Vandenberg said. "You want to find those flaws as early as you can."

IBM also has production software capabilities with its Tivoli software division that could benefit from the enhanced security analysis that Glass Box can provide.

"We can push the vulnerability data there so that policies can be tuned and pushed out to all the devices that are being managed," Vandenberg said.

Read More:

http://www.esecurityplanet.com/network-security/glass-box-the-next-phase-of-web-application-security-testing.html

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Skype for Windows Phone being tested, coming soon

Skype should be arriving on Windows Phone soon, as reports from The Verge suggest the app is in the testing stages.

Microsoft employees are reportedly able to download test versions of the Skype app from the Windows Phone Marketplace. The app itself will likely fit right in with the Windows Phone aesthetic, with several panes to scroll through by swiping left and right.

The app can’t arrive too soon as far as we’re concerned, because in case you’d forgotten, Microsoft actually owns Skype. So the fact that we’re still waiting for the VoIP service to arrive on the software giant’s own operating system is weird to say the least.

Microsoft originally vowed to get Skype on to Windows Phone in autumn of last year. The news that it’s in testing is positive though, and if it’s ready to show off by the end of February, it could make an appearance at Mobile World Congress, a big trade show for everything phone-related.

We used to be reluctant when it came to recommending Windows Phone, because compared to iOS and Android it was extremely light in the app department.

Read More:

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/skype-for-windows-phone-being-tested-coming-soon-50006855/

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Software tester moves to offshore cloud

Faster, cheaper load testing for finance, government clients.

Software testing firm TestPro is considering moving its email and knowledge management systems offshore after taking up IBM’s Singapore-based cloud offering last August.

The 30-person company retired three physical servers last year, when it moved its IBM Rational Team Concert project management software out of an Australian managed service facility.

TestPro managing director Scott Marchant said the move to utility pricing shaved two-thirds off the company’s infrastructure operating costs in December.

The company currently consumes Microsoft Exchange email as a service from a Western Australian provider that Marchant described as “alright, just not as cheap”.

He expected TestPro to consider moving to another, cheaper cloud-based email provider this year.

“We’re in the process of working that out in the next couple of months; our interest will be to do that in the next three to six months,” he said.

IBM introduced its SmartCloud Enterprise service last April, allowing customers to rent virtual servers on an hourly basis.

At the time, TestPro, which has used Rational software for more than a decade, was reviewing its service contracts after having moved from data centres in Western Australia, Canberra and Sydney.

Marchant said the company reviewed its contracts every 12 to 18 months.

The company, which tests ERP, web-based and custom-built applications on behalf of organisations in the financial services, retail and government sectors, picked SmartCloud for the “best mix of price and performance”.

It spun up a virtual Windows 2003 server and two Windows 2008 servers in IBM’s Singapore data centre within one week, and decommissioned its Dell eight-way server and two HP G4 servers two weeks later.

Read More:

http://www.itnews.com.au/News/289177,software-tester-moves-to-offshore-cloud.aspx

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