San Francisco based BlazeMeter has launched launched what it claims is the first cloud service for load and performance testing powerful enough to simulate enterprise grade load testing requirements. Based on the Apache JMeter open source project, BlazeMeter is delivered as a "self-service" web application for developers and Quality Assurance (QA) pros.
With the question of testing and performance analysis in the cloud having received comparatively less attention during the publicity fuelled rise of cloud computing, BlazeMeter is joining Microsoft, HP, Skytap (to name but three), and a host of other vendors in addressing this developer need.
BlazeMeter's contention is that the needs of the modern web application demand heavyweight load and performance testing. The company points to IDC predictions that the automated software quality (ASQ) and emerging testing as a service (TaaS) segments of the market will approach US$1 billion in the next two years.
"BlazeMeter provides cloud application testing on a testing cloud," said Alon Grimonsky, CEO and founder of BlazeMeter. "In the same way that Heroku created a cloud focused on Ruby, BlazeMeter has created a cloud that focuses on load testing scripts using JMeter. We're using the cloud to answer the need for a powerful, inexpensive do-it-yourself load testing solution."
"The cloud has created a revolution and everyone expects DIY solutions. Accentuated by open-source adaptation emerges an explosion of seamlessly deployed web and mobile apps with architecture that is no longer transparent to the developers who use it. As a result, performance issues have multiplied considerably," added Grimonsky.
BlazeMeter argues that existing commercial load testing solutions fail to meet today's developer requirements because they are either too expensive — and require professional services for implementation (HP LoadRunner and Gomez for example) — or are self-service solutions too weak to meet real-world professional requirements.
While JMeter is an open source automation tool (more than 1 million downloads in 2011), it is still complex to configure and maintain and cannot yet deploy enough resources to test significant loads to be expected in enterprise or high-traffic websites. BlazeMeter overcomes these challenges through a self-service load testing solution hosted in the cloud.
