French software tools developer Cyrano SA is porting its Sybase and Oracle database performance and scalability testing onto Microsoft’s SQL Server. There’s an inevitability that Microsoft will take a large slice of the enterprise database market, says UK marketing director Gareth Evans.
Cyrano’s Workbench performance testing software runs tests on aspects of a system’s operation, such as speeds of response or the number of chip cycles used to fulfill a request, then matches it against thresholds set by the database administrator. If it exceeds those limits, Workbench raises an alert, allowing the user to make corrections. Workbench’s uniqueness, says Evans, lies in its checking tool seeing the woods for the trees. It runs only the requests the user wants, rather than monitoring the database constantly and sending lots of other information.
Cyrano’s other chief product, Impact, runs simulation checks to see whether specified numbers of users running requests from multiple applications can successfully use the system. Users processing customer orders may want to delete customers, add orders or change orders, for example.
Both tools are aimed at high-end mission-critical systems in finance and banking, and telecoms and utilities markets, although Evans says that no programming is necessary. Workbench is priced at 9,000 pounds ($14,200) for any number of users, Impact costs 23,000 pounds ($36,300) for 100 simulated users, with the price rising by 6,000 pounds ($9,300) for every 100 additional users.
