Hot on the heels of the news of its Queens Award for Enterprise (see here) , TestPlant has expanded the business with the acquisition of fellow UK software testing provider Facilita Software Development for an undisclosed sum.
Founded in 2001, Facilita specailises in load and performance testing. These capabilities bring a new dimension to TestPlant and management believes the combined assets will enable it to compete directly with larger players like HP and Micro Focus in the testing sector. The acquisition also comes with a credible customer base from the public sector and large enterprises in the private sector. As for Facilita, it will benefit from being part of a larger operation with more international support.
Demand fluctuates but there is always a level of demand for software testing and with the growth in mobile and web-based applications and services, the prospects for the sector look positive. It is still a busy market – Qualitest recently launched in the UK - while established providers can stumble as SQS showed recently (see here). However, TestPlant is being proactive, expanding via acquisition, partnerships and taking on the hot area of mobile application testing too while maintaining its USP of non-invasive automated testing (see here).