Mercury has introduced an enhanced product line that monitors wireless Web applications based on WAP and i-mode, a wireless protocol developed by Japan’s NTT DoCoMo.

• LoadRunner®, load testing software, and ActiveTest, a hosted version of the product, are currently available.
• Topaz, a real-time monitoring software, and ActivieWatch, its performance monitoring service, will be available come September.
• WinRunner, a product for monitoring performance across a wide range of devices, will be released later this year.

For infrastructure companies, application vendors, and wireless Web site operators, Mercury’s enhanced product line will help these enterprises not only to monitor how well their applications are performing but also to identify any performance problems.

For instance, LoadRunner and ActiveTest test customers’ WAP and i-mode applications by emulating thousands of wireless transactions in order to identify and isolate performance bottlenecks. To accurately measure application performance from an end-user’s perspective, LoadRunner and ActiveTest stress applications through both the WAP gateway and WAP/i-mode server.

Recently, Mercury announced that Nokia, AvantGo, Brience, and Everypath will use its software to test and monitor their in-house wireless Web applications.

WAP and i-mode support for LoadRunner are available as an add-on starting at $20,000 for 50 wireless virtual users, or $50,000 for 500 wireless virtual users. ActiveTest starts at $15,000 for a hosted test with 100 wireless virtual users. Topaz and ActiveWatch with WAP/i-mode will be sold on a subscription basis. Topaz starts at $3, 750 and ActiveTest starts at $3,750 for up to five transactions per month. The WAP and i-mode for WinRunner will be priced at $995 per seat.

For more information: www.mercuryinteractive.com/company/pr/news_releases/080700wap.html