InSoLaTER - An Independent Testing Service from Infosys

Source : indiatoday

In a bid to tap the $13 billion software testing market, Infosys has taken the wraps off a new outsourcing venture-InSoLaTER.

Infosys Technologies has launched an independent software test services offering, InSoLaTER (Infosys Software Labs for Test Execution and Research), targeted at software development firms. The company has already set up a full-fledged offshore laboratory in Bangalore-enabled to conduct tests on most hardware and software platforms and on all available browsers-at a cost of $1.5 million (around Rs 7 crore).

R. Arun, associate vice-president of Infosys and in-charge of the project, says, "Software testing typically accounts for 15 per cent of the total cost of an application's development. According to market research firm Gartner Group, the testing market is worth approximately $13 billion (Rs 62,000 crore). Our endeavor is to capture a small chunk of this huge market."

How is Infosys placed vis-à-vis other players in the market? Arun replies, "Our processes are based on our CMM Level 5 best practices, which allow our managers to start with the best-of-class practices and to constantly improve upon them as a project progresses. The various types of independent test services we offer include functionality, performance (reliability, availability, stress, load and volume), security, usability and certification." Arun says the new unit will contribute a revenue of $12 million (Rs 57.4 crore) in the current financial year itself.

India's Role In Software Testing

Source : cxotoday

As per an IDC report, almost $1 billion of the estimated $13 billion global software testing market is accounted for by Indian companies. With the concept evolving considerably in the recent times, CXOtoday explores the industry and its future prospects in India.

"With software tools changing its landscape, testing has become a specialized discipline and is growing faster than it was even two to three years back," averred Shashi Reddy, CEO, Applabs Technologies.

He feels that CIOs are now beginning to understand the benefits of testing and are investing heavily in it. As a result the opportunities have grown substantially in recent past.


Speaking about attitudes towards software testing market, Oren Ariel, CTO and Chief Architect of Mercury Worldwide commented, "With an increased realization of the potential hitches that defective solutions can create, testing software is preferred to risking its failure later. However, despite growing awareness, software testing is still not a prioritized strategy for many enterprises."

"Many business applications are not tested properly before being released into market. As a result companies suffer due to application downtime. This becomes a key concern of the CIO," he added.

Meanwhile, India is becoming one of the leading destinations for offshore testing, with market opportunities for the offshore software testing companies currently at $2 billion, and expected to rise to $8 billion by 2008.

Arun Ramu, Head - IVS group, Infosys, perceives an increased reliance by global software vendors on India to save costs in terms of logistics and time
"The potential that exists in the software testing space is similar to the offshoring model offers. Our global delivery model has been a competitive advantage in the software testing space too."

Neeraj Singh, Test Project Leader, IBM, pointed out that quality of testing an major CIO concern. Hence, vendors are trying their best to optimize testing through several tried and tested as well as innovative techniques.

On other recent trends he pointed out, "Most organizations are also realizing that software testing is becoming an independent professional discipline. It not only brings objectivity and transparency to defect reporting process, but also improves the core business strategy."

Customers are ready to get their software tested by a company that has not played a part in the development process. Moreover it reduces costs by deploying cost-effective models and perceived risk of outsourcing testing is low, he remarked.

While traditional Indian software service players have concentrated on the BFSI domain, Mercury and Polaris have gone way ahead to address multiple segments such as wireless, mobile and embedded systems.

YouTube India is Launched

Source : TechLads

With News Corp's MySpace having launched in India, can Google-owned YouTube be far behind? The popular video-sharing Web site today launched its local Indian version at www.youtube.co.in.

YouTube India is different in that it features a localized home page plus search functions, allowing users create and share videos, discover the most popular/relevant videos in India, and generally connect with other Indian and global users. Over time, YouTube India is expected to have an entirely 'local' flavor and feature content and functionality that is most desired by Indian users.

YouTube India sports local features like promoted videos, featured videos, home page promotions, localized user interface and help center, user support and community features (video ratings, sharing, and content flagging), and intends making easier for the Indian YouTube community to search and view videos from India. In addition, content uploaded by users in India would show up as 'top favourites' and 'recommended content' on the local YouTube Web site. YouTube India also aims at facilitating exchange amongst the large Indian NRI community.

Meanwhile, YouTube India has already inked partnerships with the likes of UTV, NDTV, India TV, Zoom TV, Rajshri Films, Eros Entertainment, IIFA, the Ministry of Tourism, IIT Delhi, and KrishCricket to name a few, with the objective of bringing exclusive Indian content to users in newer ways. Enjoy guys