Cloud testing is an innovation that uses virtaulized resources to test software applications in a way that more-closely mimicks the way it might be affected by being out in the wild. Clearly, when you want to test a website, you need machines that connect to your site to verify proper operation. Sauce Labs‘s cloud-based service allows savvy developers to quickly test web applications on over 150 browsers and platforms including iOS, Android & Mac OS X, Selenium-compatible functional testing, JavaScript unit and easy manual testing all in the cloud.

Extending the cloud testing platform, Sauce Labs announced expanded platform support and new features for JavaScript (JS) Unit Testing on Sauce.

The company said developers are now able to automatically test whether the JavaScript in their web and mobile applications renders correctly using Sauce Labs’ test infrastructure of more than 150 browser and OS platforms.

JavaScript plays a key role in today’s modern applications, but to ensure bug free applications, it is essential that developers run tests across target browsers. As part of ongoing efforts to provide a complete testing platform, Sauce Labs’ Sauce for JS giving developers the ability to automatically test whether the JavaScript used in their Web and mobile applications renders correctly using its test infrastructure.

“Using Sauce for JS unit tests gives developers instant access to difficult to maintain OS/browser combinations, so they can get better test coverage, and allows them integrate tests with their Continuous Integration, or CI, systems,” said John Dunham, CEO and co-founder of Sauce Labs. “Hundreds of users have already been using Sauce Labs to run their JavaScript unit tests in the cloud, but the new features make it even simpler.”

Some new features include a REST API that gives frontend developers insights into browser-specific issues within their apps; new reporting page that specifically details the results of JS unit tests to see and share all test details easily and identify failures faster.

The smartphone market generated $25 billion in revenues last year and is expected to soar to $46 billion by 2016. Companies are relying more and more on their mobile channels to generate revenues. But lots of mobile apps aren’t thoroughly tested and automated testing is doubly challenging because teams need to build and maintain a testing environment and on top of that, building tests can require significant technical skill.

The fact that over 94% of IT equipment in all vertical sectors continue to be neglected for mobile functionality and performance, mobile testing leaders like SOASTA is addressing these challenges with strong solutions for precision mobile test automation, Real User Monitoring (RUM), and cloud-based web performance testing. Others like Sauce’s software-as-a-service (SaaS) testing cloud application is used to run approximately five million tests each month by some of the largest consumer and enterprise brands.