Mercury Interactive Advances Testing of UNIX Software With Major New Release of XRunner; XRunner 4.0 Enables Faster Testing to Improve Software Quality and Reliability of UNIX and Web-based Applications.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 1996--Mercury Interactive Corporation (NASDAQ: MERQ), the world's leading provider of automated client/server testing tools, today announced and shipped XRunner 4.0, a major new release of its industry-standard tool for testing UNIX client applications.

XRunner 4.0 includes technology advances that enable faster testing of UNIX- and Web-based applications for improved software quality and reliability.

XRunner 4.0 includes new technology to make cross-platform testing more efficient by allowing reuse of tests across UNIX and Windows NT. Developers and QA departments can develop test scripts once, then replay them on any other platform. XRunner 4.0 can also be used in conjunction with Mercury Interactive's WebTest technology to test Java and Netscape application functionality.

In addition, Mercury Interactive has added new features to XRunner to accelerate the testing process and make testing easier for a wider range of users and organizations. These features include:

-- RapidTest Script Wizard speeds the testing process by learning the entire application, and automatically generating test scripts. It automates all phases of testing, including test script creation that was previously a manual process. This provides users with a dramatic time savings and makes automated testing accessible for a broader range of users.

-- Exception Handling automates responses to unanticipated application or system errors, which ensures reliable replay and prevents the testing process from coming to an abrupt halt. This significantly improves productivity by making testing more reliable during unattended testing.

-- WidgetLint technology is the industry's first error detection tool for testing Motif user interfaces. It detects hard-to-find GUI implementation errors such as invisible text, labels and widgets, window and widget resizing errors, and widget redundancy.

According to Doug Young, inventor of WidgetLint and author of Motif Debugging and Performance Tuning, "XRunner 4.0 includes an innovative implementation of this concept and takes the idea of `inside testing of Motif applications' to a new level... Motif programmers and testers will find XRunner's implementation of WidgetLint very useful."

-- OpenTest Technology further enhances the power and flexibility of XRunner by enabling reuse of existing C and C++ code for testing through shared library extensions to Mercury Interactive's Test Script Language (TSL).

-- Report Analyzer is a new, interactive graphical reporting tool that provides a quick summary of test results including color-coded pass/fail analysis and drill-down technology to pinpoint the exact line in the test script where the error occurred. This results in a faster, more accurate interpretation of test results. -0-

"XRunner 4.0 represents a major leap forward by making automated testing faster and easier for a broader range of users," said Amnon Landan, president of Mercury Interactive. "By making testing feasible for a broader range of users, we believe we can extend our lead in the UNIX testing market even further."

XRunner was introduced in 1991, and quickly became the market-leading automated GUI testing tool for UNIX. With over 8,000 licenses shipped, XRunner enjoys 65.5% market share of any UNIX client testing tool, according to a recent study by Atre Associates. The product automates manual test executive by driving the application just as a real user would; verifying the output; and reporting the results to ensure that errors or bottlenecks are corrected before the application is deployed.

With the release of XRunner 4.0, Mercury Interactive has added support for the following new development environments: Hewlett-Packard SoftBench; Oracle Developer 2000; Computer Associates Open Road; SAS Environment and KL Group XRT Widgets. XRunner continues to support ParcPlace-Digitalk VisualWorks, Neuron Data Elements Environment IST X-Designer, Visix Galaxy, ICS Builder Accessory and Visual Edge UIMX.

Availability and Pricing

XRunner 4.0 is immediately available for Solaris, SunOS, HP-UX, and SGI IRIX, and will be available for IBM AIX by third quarter 1996. Other platforms expected to be available later this year include: Digital UNIX, UnixWARE, AT&T GIS NCR, and SCO UNIX. A single-user license of XRunner 4.0 is priced at $10,000. The WebTest extension for XRunner is priced at $495.

About Mercury Interactive

Mercury Interactive develops, markets, and supports a complete family of Automated Software Quality (ASQ) solutions that automate and manage testing and quality assurance for developers of enterprise software and systems. The company's core products -- WinRunner, XRunner, and LoadRunner -- enable corporate developers, system integrators, and independent software vendors to identify software errors more quickly and efficiently than traditional methods allow.

WebTest, the industry's first testing technology for the World Wide Web, is the first step in the company's strategy to deliver the tools needed to improve the quality and reliability of Web-based systems. Mercury Interactive has its headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., and maintains offices across the United States and internationally with a network of distributors throughout the world. -0-

Note to Editors: Mercury Interactive is located at 470 Potrero Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif. 94086. The company can be reached by phone at 408/523-9900 or by fax at 408/523-9911. Mercury Interactive's World Wide Web site is located at http://www.merc-int.com.

1996 Mercury Interactive Corporation, Sunnyvale, Calif. XRunner, WinRunner, and LoadRunner are registered trademarks; RapidTest and WebTest are trademarks of Mercury Interactive Corporation. Product and company names are used herein for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Mercury Interactive

Sue Ann Murray, 408/523-4290

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Evans Communications

Shannon Osthimer, 415/595-0796