Paragon Application Systems (Paragon), the leading independent testing services provider for the financial services industry, today introduced VirtualATM®, a powerful simulator designed to replace physical ATM hardware in the test environment.
With VirtualATM, customers can conduct automated testing of the entire software stack from anywhere in the world, saving time, money and manpower.
VirtualATM reduces the dependency on physical ATMs and manual processes in the testing environment. It simulates ATM hardware components generating a range of error conditions that cannot be easily recreated at physical test machines. During the testing process, VirtualATM can continually submit thousands of transactions types, 24-hours-a-day, covering a much wider range of transaction failure scenarios within any given test phase than can be accomplished manually.
“ATMs and payments systems are increasingly complex, driving the need for a comprehensive suite of products to allow companies to execute testing efficiently,” said Jim Bradley of Bradley Technology Associates. “Paragon listened to our need for an ATM testing solution that would allow us to test our ATM network from our desktop PCs and developed VirtualATM. Paragon was also willing to work with us in the development of test automation solutions to streamline the time we were spending executing test cases. Working with Paragon has been a positive experience and I recommend their solutions.”
Jim Perry, CEO of Paragon, explained, “In recent years, the interconnectivity of payments systems, channels and institutions has significantly increased operational risk, and the sheer volume of payments indicates that the corresponding risk is higher than in previous years. ATM systems have grown too complex and change far too quickly for any organization to jeopardize deployment without frequent, end-to-end testing. VirtualATM meets this need for a powerful, next generation, automated testing strategy that quickly, effectively and repeatedly tests an unprecedented number of scenarios.”
VirtualATM is all encompassing, supporting the testing of all transactions and error conditions, including both magnetic stripe and EMV chip cards. The solution provides unparalleled visibility into the XFS layer, facilitating testing of every endpoint. VirtualATM provides the capability to automatically report, execute, validate and report transactions without operator interaction. Measurements have shown that human testers can complete five straightforward tests per hour including validation and recording of results; a single instance of VirtualATM can easily complete 60 tests in the same timeframe. In addition, the scalability of VirtualATM allows organizations to increase testing throughout easily, quickly and cost effectively.