Cupertino, CA (January 19, 1999)--Rational Software Corporation today announces Rational® Suite TestStudio, the industry's only product suite that provides a complete, automated testing solution that unifies testing professionals with other members of a software project team. Rational Suite TestStudio integrates new electronic-commerce (e-commerce) testing technology, new test-generation functionality, updated versions of Rational's functional and reliability testing tools and Rational's new Team Unifying Platform to provide the most comprehensive, automated testing solution in the industry.

E-commerce and Web applications using Dynamic HTML (DHTML) or Java pose special problems for testing. Because each page is uniquely generated at run-time, a test script needs to emulate user behavior in the browser uniquely for every session and transaction. Rational Suite TestStudio extends its Object-Oriented Recording® to handle these cases. To solve the unique problems of DHTML testing, Rational Suite TestStudio is the first to make use of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Document Object Model in a commercial test product.

Java applets add an additional complexity because their operation can vary according to the user's browser, Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and foundation class library. Here, too, Rational Suite TestStudio extends its Object-Oriented Recording to recognize the underlying Java structure of the applet being tested, independent of the browser, JVM and foundation-class library. Rational Suite TestStudio fulfills the Java promise of "write once, run anywhere" because testers can "record once, playback anywhere" to verify the operation of a Java applet on a variety of browsers, JVMs and foundation-class libraries.

Rational TestFactory™ is Rational Suite TestStudio's new automated test-generation technology. It automates the tedious elements of reliability testing, allowing testing professionals to focus on the aspects of functional testing that require human judgement, such as planning, creating and managing tests that verify business logic and application requirements. Rational Suite TestFactory automatically finds run-time errors and defects that cause applications to crash. Its patented technology automatically generates test scripts that are optimized to cover the greatest amount of an application's code in the shortest amount of time. This release of Rational Suite TestFactory works with applications written in Microsoft Visual Basic™.

"Rational sets a new standard in automated software quality with the delivery of Rational Suite TestStudio," said Tom Bogan, vice president and general manager of Rational's automated testing products. "We've integrated the industry's most advanced e-commerce testing solution, a revolutionary new automated testing technology and a set of updated complementary products to provide the most comprehensive automated testing solution in the market."

Rational Suite TestStudio is the offering in the Rational Suite product line optimized for testing professionals. It integrates tools designed specifically for automated software testing with the Rational Team Unifying Platform to both service the particular needs of testing professionals and unify them with the rest of the software team. Rational Suite TestStudio is delivered in a single package with a single installation procedure, license agreement, support vehicle and update schedule to simplify the solution for users. It includes updated versions of:

1. Rational TeamTest for the creation, playback and management of functional test scripts.
2. Rational TestFactory to automate reliability testing and test generation through new integration with Rational TeamTest.
3. Rational Purify® to automatically detect run-time errors during functional and regression testing through new integration with Rational TeamTest.
4. Rational Visual Quantify™ to automatically detect performance bottlenecks in application code during functional and regression testing through a new integration with Rational TeamTest.
5. Rational Visual PureCoverage™ to automatically measure what code has been exercised during functional and regression testing through new integration with Rational TeamTest.

6. Rational Requisite®Pro to ensure test plans and test results are always created against the current set of an application's changing requirements through a new integration with Rational TeamTest.
7. Rational ClearQuest™ to report defects, track the status of reported defects and verify resolved defects through new integration with Rational TeamTest.
8. Rational SoDA® for automated reporting across many Rational products to understand project-wide issues as they relate to testing.
9. The Rational Unified Process™, a set of shared best-practices so testers can follow a common process with other members of the team.

"The value of Rational Suite TestStudio is greater than the sum of its parts"

"The power of Rational Suite TestStudio comes from using the Rational Team Integration Architecture to integrate the products in the suite and thereby multiply their value. Now testing professionals can get everything they need in one package that also helps them work more closely with the rest of their team."

Rational Suite TestStudio is tightly integrated with Rational PerformanceStudio™. When installed together, these products allow users to share a common set of test assets, requirements, change requests and workflow. For example, functional scripts can be reused for load tests with all test results reported in a common log and measured against a common set of project requirements. The tester can use both products together to test all dimensions of application quality reliability, functionality and performance under production load. Rational Suite TestStudio and Rational PerformanceStudio are sold separately.

For more information on the Rational Suite product line, please see the January 19, 1999 news release headlined: "Rational Software Unifies Software Teams with the Delivery of Rational Suite."

Rational Suite TestStudio is available on Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows 98. Rational is also offering a trade-up program for customers.

For more information on the Rational Suite Trade-up Program see the January 19, 1999 news release headlined: "Rational Software Announces Rational Suite Trade-Up Program for Customers."

Rational Software Corporation (NASDAQ: RATL) is the market leader in ensuring the success of customers who depend on their ability to develop and deploy software for technical, embedded, Web, e-commerce, and enterprise information systems. Rational had revenues of $311 million for its fiscal year that ended in March 1998, and employs over 1,900 people worldwide. Rational's comprehensive solution addresses the major challenges faced by customers developing the mission-critical software applications that they depend on. Rational's solution substantially improves the effectiveness and productivity of software development teams, enabling them to reduce development time and improve quality.

For more information, visit Rational at www.rational.com.