If you knew the real journey a mobile application makes from where you are standing to the application server, you would find it hard to believe that the entire mobile system actually works. If you realized how much of a mobile application’s quality depended on its ability to traverse this journey smoothly and quickly, you would be shocked.
The path a desktop application makes can be as simple as from the computer to the wire. For a mobile device it’s a tougher challenge. From the location the user accesses the mobile application, a mobile device will connect to a Wi-Fi point which will connect to another Wi-Fi point. Then the request will go to a router, then another and then another. The mobile application’s next step can even be over a physical cable wire before reaching its final destination – the application server. Then there is the same journey back to the device.
This makes performance testing vital to the successful deployment of a mobile application.
The challenge for mobile developers is to not be tempted to test the performance of their mobile applications under ideal conditions. Ideally, an application will go straight to the application server, passing information back and forth directly. Under these conditions the application may pass all sorts of performance tests in the lab, but not be prepared for the reality that awaits it. When the applications are deployed to market, the developers face a harsh reality.
The challenge enterprises face when presenting their applications to the user is to make it all look easy. A mobile application is an extension of a company’s brand. If the app performs well, it can improve the brand’s image. If there are problems, even products unrelated to mobility will suffer by association with the brand’s name. If an application takes too long to download or perform a function, users will assume it is broken and delete it, telling their friends about it on social media.
How does a company protect against this? With network virtualization testing. Good network virtualization testing not only tests an app’s performance over any type of local network, it will simulate the real-world conditions an application faces on its path to provide an optimal user experience. It will simulate unique places in which the user could be located. Even if someone is using the application while in an elevator, or riding a train through a tunnel, the app must keep running.
For a seamless mobile experience, the mobile device must be in constant contact with the application server. To keep users satisfied with your mobile application, the line of communication must be stable. Adequate mobile performance testing using network virtualization can eliminate 30% of the potential problems that could prevent users from optimal satisfaction with your mobile application and telling their friends how great your brand is.
Editor’s Note: In an attempt to broaden our interaction with our readers we have created this Reader Forum for those with something meaningful to say to the wireless industry. We want to keep this as open as possible, but we maintain some editorial control to keep it free of commercials or attacks. Please send along submissions for this section to our editors at: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
