I am happy to introduce you to TestMaker 5.3. The new software focuses on cloud testing. TestMaker 5.3's cloud testing features deliver ground-breaking test operation cost reductions by moving tests onto inexpensive, pay-as-you-go test equipment that scales up to millions of virtual simulated load test users on demand. TestMaker does all the work in a cloud environment for you, including handling initiation and termination of test injectors (TestNodes) in the cloud automatically. The road to cloud testing was filled with several pitfalls. TestMaker is 100% Java and we want to use Java-based components where possible. Jeff Barr of Amazon pointed us towards Typica over the Java example APIs from Amazon. We wrote our own cloud client to store cloud security credentials, instance types, security settings, and test injector (TestNode) levels. Typica was simple, easy, and reliable. TestMaker 5.3 supports popular cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services (EC2,) GoGrid, and Collab.net Lab Manager (Cubit.) RackSpace just introduced their API to their cloud environment and we are planning to support cloud testing in RackSpace in the near future. Resources for you: Download TestMaker 5.3 Today http://www.pushtotest.com Watch a screencast about TestMaker Cloud Testing at: http://pttdownloads.s3.amazonaws.com/cloudtestintro/TM53_Cloud_Screencast_3.html Download the Press Release (Adobe Acrobat PDF format) http://tinyurl.com/ktn8va Learn More About TestMaker Cloud Testing http://www.pushtotest.com/products/cloudtesting Read the release notes at: http://www.pushtotest.com/docs/vreleasenotes/

Seems like a cool idea. How do you handle licensing and pricing? Are the cloud instances that get launched based on paid AMIs or something along those lines? --Matt

Hi Matt: TestMaker Enterprise pricing is based on the total number of virtual users in a load test. There is no separate price based on machine instances or controllers. Customers tell us TestMaker Enterprise pricing is about the same as the proprietary tool's price for annual maintenance. We are finding the Cloud Testing scalability to be awesome. We've run tests from 2,000 virtual users to 60,000. And it is very easy to set-up a test. Request a price quote here. Frank Cohen http://www.pushtotest.com