Direct Technology, based in Isleworth, Middlesex, has added to its range of automation software with the launch of Automator QA, a software testing tool that is claimed to use artificial intelligence techniques. It tests software running on personal computers, minis or mainframes, and the range of tests includes regression, performance, response and volume testing. It analyses the software application as it runs rather than the code that makes it function, and it is said to take capture and playback techniques a stage further by recovering from unpredicted fault areas and continuing the full test. The tool automatically constructs test plans and then performs a series of checks, the results of which are logged. Automator QA runs on a personal computer and accesses the software under test using terminal emulation techniques, leaving the performance of the application unaffected.
