Borland Software has announced Borland Silk 2008, an application lifecycle management product line featuring capabilities for Web 2.0. It is intended to break down barriers among business, development and quality assurance, the company said. Enhancements to Silk products improve the quality process by delivering better manual testing, expanded automation, and improved enterprise support of the quality lifecycle, according to Borland.

Web 2.0 capabilities include the ability to test Web 2.0 applications, which Borland defines as rich Internet applications.

SilkTest 2008 is a functional and regression-testing product featuring "open agent" technology to support Web 2.0 applications built on Adobe Flex and Windows. The agent technology features a framework for user extensibility. Java language scripting and an Eclipse interface will be available for the product later this quarter. "Test automation [in SilkTest 2008] allows you to run functional tests over and over again," said Brad Johnson, a senior director of product.

The new version also includes SilkPerformer 2008 for load and performance-testing. It allows testing for Adobe Flex-based applications via AMF3 (ActionScript Messaging Format), as well as provides enhanced AJAX support providing recognition of XML and JSON requests. SilkPerformer 2008 also adds support for the BMC Remedy Web ARS (Action Request System) help desk system.

Another enhanced component is SilkCentral Test Manager 2008 for quality management. This release enables reuse and management of large sets of test assets and greater flexibility for manual tests, Borland said. Also featured are security improvements and performance and scalability updates to meet demands of large, distributed teams.