Case study: Empirix

Mobilizing a mission-critical application

Background
Empirix is the leading source for test and monitoring solutions that measure, manage, and enhance the performance of Web and voice applications, contact centers and communications networks.

OneSight is an Empirix solution for proactively managing the performance of critical Web Applications. A single browser-based console continually monitors customer transactions, correlated with the underlying infrastructure, to identify and fix problems before they jeopardize the customers Quality of Experience (QoE).

The Challenge
How do you replicate a sophisticated graphics-intensive application on a handheld device? It had to be easily deployable to over 3,000 customers, run on multiple handheld platforms, and provide the same information as their desktop system. And it needed to be done quickly on a tight budget.

6 Months of Development in 1 Day
Instead of spending an estimated six months to develop a stripped-down mobile subset, Empirix tried ZFrame. The application worked immediately, out-of-the-box.

Total Life-Cycle Savings
While the initial savings were impressive, it was the total life-cycle impact that sold Empirix on ZFrame. Like all application development, long-term maintenance and enhancements can easily account for 70% or more of the full project costs.

A parallel mobile project would have meant an endless battle to stay current with every new product feature and every new handheld. Why drain critical resources in a fight you can never win?

With ZFrame, Empirix can maintain a single version of the application - always deploying simultaneously on both desktop and handheld devices.

Z-tags Customize the User Experience
By eliminating the grunt work of mobilizing their application, Empirix could concentrate on providing the best user experience on a handheld device.

Pop-ups and zoom-in are automatically provided by ZFrame. Empirix took the next step by adding custom Z-tags to their HTML coding. Z-tags are special directives to ZFrame, that are totally transparent to standard desktop browsers.

Z-tags give Empirix custom pop-ups to display important information. These pop-ups can even include hyperlinks to other parts of the application. Other Z-tags let them control which graphics are pre-loaded with each page. And Z-tags give them automated zoom-in to critical sections of a page.

The Same Tools, the Same Process
Empirix generates its Z-tags the same way they generate all their applications. They use Microsoft's standard ASP (Application Server Pages) capability to dynamically create HTML with the Z-tags inserted. They could have also used JSP (Java Server Pages) to do the same thing.

It took the developers a few hours to start productively using Z-tags. There were no new tools to buy, no changes to the development process, and zero impact on how the application is presented on the desktop.

Empirix application on a ZFrame-enabled device

(actual screen shots)

This is the main status page as seen on ZFrame.




Zooming in shows the graphical, color and shape coded information.




Every symbol has a pop-up to show the content.




Zoom in to view the graphs.




Statistical information shows in pop-ups for quick reference.




Standard commands and interactivity help keep everyone informed.