Excessive downtime can consist of any of following:

Unstable Environment Lack of Infrastructure Support Frequent Application Updates Buggy Code Effects of Environment Instability on Script Development and Execution

When an application or environment is unstable, scripting progress is dramatically slowed or stopped altogether. In some cases, it’s possible to continue scripting, but this may causes more work at a later date. For example, if you are scripting in buggy code, you may have to script around error messages and scripts will have to be revised at a later date. Or, you may only be able to create scripts to a certain point and finish them at a later date. To help avoid and decrease environment instability, read chapter on Service Level Agreements.

Timely Defect Fixes

Application defects do not have to be detrimental to an automated software testing project. When defects are fixed in a timely manner, scripting can continue without significant downtime. When estimating an automated testing project, it’s always best to add some buffer time that will accommodate for defect reporting and revisions.

When defect fixes take an excessive amount of time to resolve and are causing automated software testing project to be delayed, it’s time to pull together a meeting. Invite all major players and discuss root of problem and what everyone can to improve situation. Maybe development is spending too much time trying to reproduce problem and having your automation team enter better description would help them turn defect fixes around faster. Maybe you can work together to classify defects and establish reasonable fix times for each classification. For example, a Critical defect needs to be fixed that day while a High defect needs to be fixed with in 24 hours.

Responsive Contact Person

When your team takes on a new automated testing project, you will need a contact person. This person is responsible for making sure you have business requirements and answering questions about how application works. This will not be his or her main job, so you will need to make sure he or she is responsive. If you cannot get adequate business requirements, test data, or questions answered, your automation project will not be successful.

Copyright 2005. Danna Henderson. All Rights Reserved.

802.11b or b/g Wireless Card – This is an Intel brand wireless network card for connecting to “hotspots” otherwise known as WiFi hubs. The Intel wireless network cards are not fastest, so if you use yours a lot you may want to take a look at a faster one.

If you do not currently own a Centrino equipped machine you may be wondering whether or not it is worth price. I would say yes, provided that you will actually use benefits provided by Centrino. Do you:

- Use your laptop battery a lot? - Connect to internet through WiFi a lot? - Need a super fast processor?

If you answered yes to these, then getting a Centrino equipped notebook may be your best move.

One more thing worth noting; a second version of Centrino has just been released, called ‘Sonoma’. What this means is that Intel takes this technology very seriously and is most likely planning even more features in future. This technology is definitely here to stay.

Whether or not you need a Centrino equipped notebook is up to you. Think hard about what you generally use your laptop for and make a sound decision based on what you come up with.