Lindsay ClarkThe Nationwide Building Society is speeding its move towards
e-commerce with the use of an innovative software tool.
The tool, from Mycroft Systems, allows the building society to
accurately simulate testing environments, radically reducing
development times of e-commerce applications, according to Terry
Gough, technology consultant with Nationwide.
"When moving into a new area in developing complex software, if
you have a test tool that runs like this then development is easier
and quicker," he said.
This can help in getting e-commerce products on the market ahead
of the competition, he said.
Run on an NT server, the Mycroft tool sits between the host
application - in Nationwide's case a Tandem server running Base24
authentication software - and the automated teller machine (ATM)
network. Planned changes to the host or the client system can be
simulated by Mycroft, which allows technical staff to test the
effects without writing new software code.
"What we've done with the product is impressive," said Gough.
"I've not seen another tool that does everything this does, and
with an easy to use graphical interface."
Now that the Y2K embargo on software change is lifted,
Nationwide plans to simulate changes to its cash machine network
protocol using Mycroft.
"The ATM can run the old protocol, but to the host it looks like
it's running the new one," Gough said. "Mycroft does the conversion
for you. You can test the host without having to worry about
hardware up at the other end."
Another useful application of the tool is testing the effect of
euro conversions on complex financial transactions, Gough said.