News

Argent Introduces Load Testing Software

• By Scott Bekker
• 05/30/2001

The Argent Defender is a new product that adds to Argent's product line, including the Argent Guardian. The testing functionality is standalone, while the monitoring capability requires Defender to be run with Argent's flagship Guardian product.

Defender runs on Windows NT or Windows 2000 with Internet Explorer 5.0 or 5.5.

A tester records a session on the Web site or Internet application, and distributes agents to distributed or local test computers.

The agents play the session script back according to six default personalities, ranging from users who read each page carefully and take minutes between inputs to technically astute users who blaze through the interface.

"We can also modify the line speeds so we can mimic T1 users, and mimic people who are at home," says Argent president and CEO Andrew Blencowe. Argent uses the atomic clock in Colorado to synchronize the agents with Defender.

After an Internet application goes live, Defender can continue in a performance monitoring mode in conjunction with the monitoring backbone provided by the Argent Guardian.

"Defender will run through 1-2 real transactions every minute or so," Blencowe explains. "If it takes too long, we'll use our monitoring backbone to send alerts."

The Argent Defender starts at $25,000 for a one-year license, 10 remote agents and three days of on-site consulting.