Firewall products pose some interesting challenges. Learn of some of the issues--and their resulting resolution--which occurred while planning the performance and characterization testing of a network security product (firewall). Based on lessons learned during this planning process, gain an understanding of the complexity of the issues and the broad range of requirements (from marketing, engineering, and customers) placed on the characterization project.

Test automation is an unavoidable entity for testing Web-based applications where reduced time-to-market is the name of the game. Data-driven test cases allow the test automation engineer to automate/develop once and run many times with different conditions to test the system. Learn why XML--the markup language for documents containing structured information--is the best way to present the test data for automated testing. Explore the advantages and disadvantages of XML-based test data.

Time-consuming and marginally effective test processes are unacceptable in today's marketplace. The high demands of eBusiness applications combined with the more challenging quality requirements on security, usability, and performance require adequate and more mature test solutions. Dedicated, practice-based process improvement models provide the frame of reference for continuous improvement of test processes. This is obvious to quality and testing professionals--but how do you convince management? Martin Pol discusses ways to obtain management buy-in for test process improvement, and provides case data from his experiences in improvement projects.

Component-based development is the practice of constructing software applications from new or existing encapsulated language-independent modules. In his presentation, David Wood details a case study on the use of opaque-box testing, coupled with code coverage and pre-/post-conditions, to provide validated software components. Learn about component-based development and how to apply it to your projects.