Compiled ByDeborah Austin ProTune -- a software solution designed to help companies pinpoint and solve problems within their information technology systems -- has been launched by Mercury Interactive Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif. Rather than leaving IT departments "fighting fires" as problems arise, ProTune proactively tunes business software applications, infrastructure and security systems, says Mercury, a provider of software and services for automated business processes. ProTune, which is available on subscription basis, takes a baseline measurement of a production system, performs tuning exercises that reveal and isolate bottlenecks, and gives recommendations for fine-tuning. A system topology mapping tool lets users define the IT architecture, which then configures tuning sessions for the specific environment. Customized "tuners" enable fixes from within the unified tuning console. Tuning sessions are repeatable, so customers can reproduce problems and validate fixes.