2008 Presidential Election Results Obtained Smoothly in Ohio Due to IT Testing Done at Platform Lab, America’s Only Non-profit IT Test and Training Facility
MERRIMACK, N.H.-(Business Wire)-January 26, 2009 - Neotys, a leader in easy-to-use, cost effective stress and load testing tools for web applications, today announced that its NeoLoad web stress testing software was used to stress test Ohio’s Election Night Reporting web application at Platform Lab, the nation’s only non-profit IT test and training facility.
Since Ohio was a key swing state in the 2008 presidential election, it was critical for its web site to provide thousands of users with up-to-the-minute results on Election Day. Previously, during election night 2004, the outcome of the presidential election also rested with Ohio voters, yet the system was overburdened and performance issues arose. Thousands of campaign workers, journalists and interested voters jammed the Ohio Secretary of State’s web site to track results of the presidential race and other contests around the state. At times, the web site slowed and even locked up, frustrating visitors to the site.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner vowed not to let web site jamming issues happen again. Prior to this year’s election, Brunner’s IT staff revamped the entire web site’s reporting system. To ensure that the web application would perform well under high volume conditions, pre-election testing of the web site’s capacity to handle visitors was performed at Platform Lab, a non-profit information technology testing and training facility.
According to Steve Gruetter, director of Platform Lab, “In 2004, just 2,200 concurrent users stressed the Secretary of State’s computer system. Knowing that even more people would be hitting the site during this election night, the state needed to verify that the site would hold up. They knew they could absolutely not afford to go down on election night.”
Platform Lab enlisted the help of Everest Technologies Inc. to provide the expertise to run the tests. Everest worked with the Secretary of State’s IT staff to create a series of virtual user profiles that would simulate the traffic anticipated on election night. Neotys’ NeoLoad was used to stress test the hardware, network, and bandwidth. The tests loaded the system with virtual users who would hypothetically log on to various areas of the site at the same time.
The test showed that re-engineering the site was the right move. In the end, tests showed that over 7,500 users could be logged on at the same time on the state’s Election Night Reporting site without a slowdown or crash.
“We didn’t have to fix anything; the site was perfect,” said Bob Malik, vice president, Everest Technologies. “We’ve been doing this kind of testing for 12 years and you don’t often see a perfect site.”
The public also noticed the site’s smooth operation.
According to Robert Mangan, CIO of the Ohio Secretary of State, “Our office received a number of positive comments about Ohio’s new Election Night Reporting system. Unlike 2004, there were no complaints about performance. Stress testing provided a great value in terms of dollars spent. It validated that our project plan, with its design requirements and the technology platform, was properly configured to meet the demand we expected.”
To learn more about how all types of firms can leverage the Platform Lab/Neotys resource from anywhere, contact Platform Lab directly at 614-675-3711 x1 or info@platformlab.org.
About Neotys www.neotys.com
Since 2005, Neotys has been helping its clients in more than 40 countries to ensure their applications' reliability, performance and quality. NeoLoad, load testing solution, ensures better efficiency to perform your tests faster, while providing pertinent analyses and full support for all new technologies. At each stage of your project, the Neotys consultants are on hand to guide you, thereby ensuring the successful deployment of your applications. For more information about Neotys and NeoLoad visit: www.neotys.com or contact sales.us@neotys.com or (603) 429-9402.
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