Moving Beyond “One Size Fits All”: A Q&A with Colin Mason, senior eLoadExpertSM consultant

Catalyst: What is eLoadExpert, and what types of organizations can benefit from the service?

Colin Mason: eLoadExpert is Empirix’s hosted performance testing service. The eLoadExpert team works with clients to test their Web applications remotely—using the e-TEST suite® software so that they can feel confident that their own customers will have the best possible online experience.

eLoadExpert can help any organization that does business over the Internet, but it is ideally suited to those who don’t have the infrastructure or expertise needed to do performance testing in-house, or who can undertake smaller tests in-house but need added support for larger tests, such as a pre-holiday check. Our customers reflect the types of organizations Empirix serves, from retail to financial services to transportation to hospitality to government, and everything in between.

C: What makes eLoadExpert different from any other hosted testing service?

C.M.: eLoadExpert uses a flexible approach and methodology called Rapid Bottleneck Identification™. The Empirix team assesses a client’s unique requirements, customizes and executes performance tests to measure how well their application responds, and then makes recommendations for optimal performance. Using the e-TEST suite, eLoadExpert can deliver the exact performance test a client needs—regardless of how simple or how complex, how big or how small. In the case of one client , for example, we provided what is probably one of the largest volume performance tests ever run with up to 250,000 concurrent users.

C: What is your specific role on the eLoadExpert team, and what experiences do you bring to this role?

C.M.: I joined the Empirix in 2000, so I have been a part of the eLoadExpert team virtually from the start. Today I’m responsible for the day-to-day operations of the group and work in all areas—from pre-sales support to test planning and execution to the reporting of results.

C: Empirix is clearly committed to delivering products that meet customer requirements. Do you have a personal philosophy that you apply to your work?

C.M.: eLoadExpert customers typically come to us with one of two questions: “Will my site scale to x?” or “Why won’t my site scale to x?” At its most basic level, our job is to help the customer understand what those numbers mean. To do that effectively, we have to be focused on the customer and their requirements. There is no such thing as “one size fits all.” Every customer is different, so every engagement must be completely unique.

C: Have you ever been part of an initial performance test where everything went perfectly, no problems were found?

C.M.: In all my years of testing, I’ve only seen one application that met its initial goals in the first round of testing - however, that application later had serious problems as the client had tested at a lower level of traffic than they ultimately experienced. Aside from that one project, all of the applications we’ve ever tested have had bottlenecks that we isolated, identified and helped the client to resolve so their deployment would be successful. We always find something that needs to be repaired or optimized.

One of our most interesting projects was testing an application that was part of a Superbowl ad campaign. Unfortunately for the client, we found that the application would only support about 100 concurrent users, and they expected thousands when their ad hit. They had to pull the campaign - though it was successfully launched later in the year. If they hadn’t tested, their seven-figure ad investment would have been a disaster.

C: What do you like to do when you’re not working?

C.M.: I am the father of two small children (ages 3 and 1) who keep me very busy. I’m also part of a historical recreation group and love participating in medieval armored combat tournaments.

For more information about eLoadExpert, contact your Empirix account manager.

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