Tiburon Systems Inc of San Jose, California, which describes itself as a leading supplier of advanced government software and an independent software tester, has announced the Ferret System, a non-intrusive, integrated computer-aided software regression testing system. Regression testing assures that any code repairs or enhancements made as a result of test findings do not cause any additional software bugs or side effects. Designed for use by software companies, system integrators, in-house applications development teams, and mission-critical government or military testing agencies, the Ferret system uses an automated capture-and-playback approach to identifying software bugs that would be overlooked by traditional test methodologies. The Ferret’s graphic capabilities, implemented through its integrated Scan Converter Subsystem, offers users a way to handle the complex requirements of Windows, OS/2 and X Window software testing. The product does not require the introduction of additional internal hardware or software to the system under test. Instead, the Ferret simply connects to the keyboard, pointing device and graphics cables of the system being tested. Once connected, the system enables a test or quality assurance engineer to develop and execute automated software test procedures including: test requirement analysis and traceability, design test scripts and test suites, bug reporting, maturity analysis and unattended automated system regression and stress testing. The Ferret System consists of bundled software and hardware. The software includes a family of off-the-shelf applications and several proprietary (patent-pending) applications which operate together under Microsoft Corp’s Windows. These include Ferret Capture/Playback, which manages the capture, playback and screen differences of individually-written test scripts to perform testing automatically. This includes the ability to capture specified screens, screen annotation, placement of control statements (if-then-else, repeat), editing, construction of massive instruction suite databases, complete playback of all keystroke and mouse movements, and image capture. This application also includes a learning mode, enabling Ferret to update its screen automatically if a new version of the software under test changes screen objects. The product handles windows that change position and size, and synchronises to variable playback speeds and it can also execute ASCII test scripts from other sources and generate annotated test reports with supporting documentation. Also part of the package is Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Owl Hypertext Guide, Ferret Maturity Prediction Software, a Scan Converter Subsystem, an interface box (and cables) that is system-specific, converting to the system under test, mouse and keyboard for capture and playback, a workstation running Windows 3.0 and containing additional graphics and input-output boards and a Graphic Analysis Monitor. The fabulous Ferret System is available from Tiburon Systems and volume shipment begins in March – pricing for the Ferret starts at $26,450.
