Today, users expect applications to be fresh, fast, and
facile. “Fresh” requires more frequent software updates and refreshed content.
“Fast” means that applications have to perform well or users move on to other
applications/providers that do. And “facile” translates to easy and
user-friendly, including minimizing frustration from underperforming or
non-functional applications.
These demanding user expectations place a bigger burden on
DevOps teams who must ensure that applications are operational and
performance-ready when released. As a result, DevOps teams are integrating
performance testing into their development processes.[1]
Following are two brief case studies of DevOps teams (from Virgin America and
Activision), describing how they used performance testing while developing
their software.
In order to ensure performance of
the application on launch day, Activision engaged with Apica to help them design
a custom SDLC platform and additional testing agents for iOS, Android, and web
browsers. Apica also helped Activision perform regular load tests and
performance reviews on the companion app during development.
The Results:
Regular load testing caught performance issues while the apps were being developed, which saved on troubleshooting time and provided crucial insight into many code-based errors and other bugs.
Regular load testing caught performance issues while the apps were being developed, which saved on troubleshooting time and provided crucial insight into many code-based errors and other bugs.
As a result, application
developers were able to correct performance issues during the development
cycle, instead of waiting until the test phase or after deploying into
production.
Virgin America, a travel innovator, needed a new, high
performance website to meet (and exceed) customer demand. When designing their
new web storefront, Virgin developers wanted to create a faster, smoother, more
intuitive, and enjoyable online booking experience.
Virgin America needed
a performance testing solution that could ensure performance lived up to their
new and improved look, no matter the load.
Apica worked with Virgin throughout the development cycle to
pinpoint performance bottlenecks, stress test the booking purchase flow, and
provide proactive capacity planning. After working with Apica, they were able
to increase overall site performance by as much as 10 times.
The Final Word
As teams rush new hybrid applications to their customers,
performance testing is not the place to cut corners because there is so much at
stake. Understanding the performance characteristics of each type of
environment are crucial, as well as understanding what happens to the
application when it reaches its capacity so outage avoidance measures can be
taken preemptively.
To read the full paper, click on this link: http://www.ptakassociates.com/content/
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