LINK and Immediate Payments Ltd have contracted Ascert to provide a low-cost Member Simulator to make available to all FPS Members, providing a pre-packaged solution for Self Certification and also other more general functional testing needs of members preparing their in-house systems for connection to the LINK Central Infrastructure (CI) switch.

The FPS Member Simulator is a complete package, containing:

• a packaged FPS Member Simulator driver
• pre-build Self Certification test cases supplied by LINK
• various pre-configured sample "test environments" for the different types of FPS connection and session options, plus back-to-back environments for demo and training purposes
• a limited-use OEM version of VersaTest to run under the Windows, licensed just for execution of the FPS Member Simulator

In additon to the test cases provided, the FPS Member Simulator supports the complete FPS ISO 8583 message set and allows any combination of valid and invalid messaging scenarios to be defined and executed.

For users wishing to go beyond what is available in the low-cost standard simulator, various upgrade options are available:

• add-on options for stress test projects
• upgrades to full VersaTest copies
• other operating system and platform options
  
• integration with VersaTest Automation Server and Mercury Quality Center for more advanced test case management and automation