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iTestCaseStudy-Blade SPIRENT ITEST CASE STUDY BLADE NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES REDUCES OVERHEAD AND IMPROVES TIME TO MARKET WITH SPIRENT ITEST BLADE Network Technologies (BLADE) is a leading provider of high-performance, low-latency, lossless, low-power, and low-cost Ethernet switches, as well as Virtual Machine-aware network virtualization and management solutions for enterprise data centers. Over 8 million BLADE switch ports are deployed at major corporations and government agencies worldwide. By leveraging Spirent iTest ® test automation software, BLADE has been able to save $500,000 in resources and equipment costs, sanity build times, and time to market. SEEKING GREATER PRODUCTIVITY AND IMPROVING TIME TO MARKET In 2009, BLADE was focused on developing new product features to meet the growing demand for virtualization-readnullnetwornullsnullIn addition, BLADEnulls portfolio of products increased significantlnullfrom its founding as an independent compannullin 200nullnullnullhe resulting increased volume and complenullitnullof testing renulluirements caused BLADEnulls testing cnullcle to grow, until it was seven times longer than it was at its foundingnull nullo meet its increasing product development and time-to-marnullet goals, BLADE hired new testers and outsourced wornulloffshorenullnullhe compannull, however, was loonulling to reduce these escalating resource costsnull nullnullhe growth rate of nullA was nullecoming faster than development,nullrecalls nulllive nullurfleet, nullenior nullice nullresident of Business Development at BLADEnullnullnullhus, BLADE decided it was time to find an off-the-shelf testing solution that would not onlnullincrease the productivitnullof our enullisting testing resources, nullut also enanullle the compannullto get more products to marnullet fasternullnull Due to increased volume and complexity of testing requirements, the length of BLADE’s test cycle had increased every year. With the introduction of iTest, the length of the test cycle leveled off and is expected to decrease. LENGTH OF T EST C YCLE 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 BEFORE ITEST AFTER ITEST EXPECTED TIME TO MARKET ADVANTAGES EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Challenge Increase productivity and reduce QA costs and time to market by adopting a more efficient test automation tool Results With iTest • Increased revenue opportunities by enabling the right products to be delivered to market on time • Improved productivity, saving $500,000 in resources and equipment • Achieved time-to-market and quality goals without increasing headcount • Reduced scripting costs by more than 40 percent • Better utilized existing resources, regardless of skill set • Reduced time for maintenance releases by 1,000 percent • Streamlined defect resolution, allowing more time to be spent on quality testing and development SPIRENT ITEST CASE STUDY ENABLING AUTOMATION AT ALL SKILL LEVELS BLADE was out-growing its internallnulldeveloped automation snullstem, which followed a proven testing wornullflow nullet was inefficient and a drain on resourcesnullnullest engineers wrote the test plan and conducted the manual test, and the automation team then developed the automated test suite using a scripting languagenullAs a last step, another team performed regressionnull Because the teams lacnulled tools to create documentation, BLADE also turned to inullest to generate documentation in order to manulle it easier to repeat tests accuratelnullnullIn addition, BLADE wanted a snullstem that did not renulluire special engineering snullillsnull nullnulle needed a tool that would enanullle engineers of all snullill levels to contrinullute to the automation processnulland help us more cost-effectivelnull ring a nullualitnullproduct to marnullet,nullenullplains nullim nullhao, nullice nullresident of nulloftware Engineering at BLADEnullnullBased on our evaluation, inullest technolognullproved to nulle powerful nullet vernulleasnullto use, so that we could nulletter meet our productivitnull onullnullectives with our current talent poolnullnull IMPROVING EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY After onlnullone nullear of using inullest, BLADE has created appronullimatelnullnull,null00 test cases spanning nullnulldifferent products, and nullnullpercent of the test plan is now automatednullBLADEnulls test engineers use inullest to create and share portanullle automation assets, including tests, reports, and documentationnullBnull leveraging each othernulls assets, test engineers can effectivelnull collanullorate and automate processes throughout the nullualitnull wornullflow across all product linesnullnullhis has helped drive automation while improving efficiencnulland manullimizing productivitnullnullBnullintroducing automation earlier in the nullualitnull wornullflow, BLADEnulls test engineers have nulleen anullle to complete more tasnulls in parallel with enullisting resourcesnull nullnullith inullest, we can avoid the inefficiencnullof having one engineer create a test and give it to the automation team to manulle into an automation test suite,nullsanulls nullhaonullnullnullhe automation team can simplnullleverage the original test plan, moving up automation earlier in the process and saving us a lot of time and cnullclesnullnull inullest has also provided BLADE with sunullstantial time savings at other nullenullstages of the nullualitnullwornullflow, including regression testing and maintenance release cnullclesnull nullurthermore, developers and test engineers have streamlined communication and reduced time to resolution nullnullsharing automation assetsnullDevelopers can easilnullreproduce nullugs at their desnulltops, saving nulloth groups time and allowing them to focus on further nullualitnulltesting and developmentnull IMPROVING TIME TO MARKET AND REDUCING OVERHEAD inullest has significantlnullimproved BLADEnulls product delivernull and nullualitnullprocess, enanullling BLADE to modifnullits delivernull approach for each product to effectivelnullnullalance product volume, time to marnullet, nullualitnull, and resourcesnullAs a result, BLADE has nulleen anullle to contain a numnuller of overhead costs associated with the testing process while improving time to marnulletnull nullnullhe performance gains from inullest have allowed us to save anullout nullnull00,000 in resources and enulluipment,nullremarnulls nullhurram nullhani, Director of nulloftware nullualitnullAssurance at BLADEnullnullinullest has enanullled us to leverage enullisting resources more efficientlnull so that we can meet our nullualitnullonullnullectives while adhering to a more aggressive schedulenullnull MAXIMIZING EXISTING RESOURCES inullest has allowed BLADE to nulletter utilize its enullisting resources, manullimizing a varietnullof snullill sets while driving further automationnullinullest automaticallnullgenerates documentation after ACTUAL COST SAVINGS GAINED WITH ITEST PROJECTED During the first year using iTest, BLADE saved $500,000 in resource and equipment costs. This savings is expected to grow over time. © 2011 Spirent Communications, Inc. All of the company names and/or brand names and/or product names referred to in this document, in particular the name “Spirent” and its logo device, are either registered trademarks or trademarks pending registration in accordance with relevant national laws. All rights reserved. Specifications subject to change without notice. Rev. A 11/02 AMERICAS 1-800-SPIRENT • +1-818-676-2683 • sales@spirent.com EUROPE AND THE MIDDLE EAST +44 (0) 1293 767979 • emeainfo@spirent.com ASIA AND THE PACIFIC +86-10-8518-2539 • salesasia@spirent.com SPIRENT ITEST CASE STUDY evernulltest, providing detailed test information in an easnull-to- understand formatnullAll test engineers, regardless of snullill level, can use this documentation to nulluicnulllnulland accuratelnullrepeat a testnullIn addition, test engineers do not have to nulle scripting enullperts to create a test with inullestnullAs a result, BLADE no longer has to relnullon nullclnullor test engineers with nullcl enullpertisenullto create scripts, thus achieving savings of up to null0 percent per test creationnullnullesters with more advanced snullills also no longer need to spend valuanullle time maintaining testsnullinullest tests are significantlnulleasier to maintain than nullcl scripts, so enullpert testers are free to focus on ad hoc testing, leading to more satisfied emplonullees and higher product nullualitnullnull nullBnulldeplonulling inullest, we have nulleen anullle to raise the value provided nullnullengineers in the test function, reduce overhead, nulletter leverage enullisting resources, and improve time to marnullet,nullconcludes nullurfleetnull COST OF T EST C ASE C REATION BEFORE ITEST WITH ITEST 40% SAVINGS $ $ BLADE achieved a 40% savings in test creation with iTest. “Getting to market with the right product at the right time provides us with better revenue opportunities. This ability to capture business opportunity is by far and away the biggest benefit that Spirent has delivered to Blade.” —Tim Chao, Vice President of Software Engineering, BLADE Network Technologies