BOULDER, Colo. -- Solidware Technologies made its marketplace debut today with the introduction of its splat(TM) software module visualization and analysis application. Releasing the splat software marks the first step in Solidware's drive to help the information technology industry innovate its way out of a worsening software defect crisis, and is licensed for a free 60-day trial via download from the www.solidw.com website.
Delivering a radically new metaphor for discovering and eliminating software defects as early as possible in the software development process, splat software graphically displays the connections and interdependencies between the various code modules that make up current-generation software systems. The initial splat product, for C language source code on Microsoft Windows-based platforms, provides a foundation for Solidware to establish a growing business through building up a complete software defect reduction ecosystem incorporating capabilities in areas of failure mode analysis; risk assessment; memory management; thread execution and interaction; and security.
Even in its current concept demonstrator status, splat software delivers immediate value by helping software developers visualize the structure of applications, identify high-risk vulnerability areas and see a "digital fingerprint" of code structure and attributes. In addition, the software can be used to rapidly assess the structure and quality of open source and third party software integrated into production IT environments. This digital fingerprinting capability represents a foundation from which Solidware can add more advanced intelligent defect test, analysis and correction modules as the product roadmap progresses.
Scott Allman, director, quality assurance and test, Vidiom Systems, Inc., of Broomfield, Colo, has used the Beta version of splat as part of Solidware's field testing of the product. According to Allman: "Just a few minutes with splat really cements in your mind the relationships among the functions performed by source code modules. This makes splat an integration tool as well as a debugging and test tool and something that all serious testers and integrators should consider."
New Methods for Defect Reduction
Susan Kunz, co-founder, president and CEO of Solidware Technologies said: "Defects are the dirty big secret of the software industry. While software flaws have skyrocketed over the last 20 years, defect rates for integrated circuits have plummeted. Our vision is to roll back the software crisis through intelligent analysis of software defect risks, bringing test forward in the development cycle through test-as-you code methodologies, automation, and visualization. We're releasing the first generation splat product as a free download to open people's eyes to the possibilities of a new paradigm and get feedback on what advanced capabilities we should include in our next generation products and services."
Software Defect Crisis
US government studies estimate that software defects cost the US economy $60 billion and the world economy $175 billion a year. Furthermore, the cost of fixing defects accounts for 70-to-80 percent of the cost of typical commercial software development projects. Traditional software development methodologies represent holdovers from an era where a typical program would run in the thousands of lines of code and would operate as a stand-alone, batch mode application. Today, software applications can consist of millions of lines of code and run in complex, multitasking environments expected to maintain non-stop availability. Software users are also demonstrating lower tolerance for defective software that interrupts business processes, is expensive to maintain, and can even endanger human lives.
The Solidware vision calls for bringing defect detection and correction forward in the software development process by combining visualization, knowledge-based intelligent analysis, of defect risks and automated test-as-you-code development strategies. This should lead to significant improvement in the areas of lowering the cost of software quality assurance, speeding time-to-market for new products, as well as overall improvements in software quality and performance. Solidware also believes that new generation tools will give developers ability to not only cope with expected advances in hardware and networking technologies, but confidence to build larger yet more robust software systems.
About Solidware Technologies
Based in Boulder, Colorado, Solidware Technologies focuses on developing and propagating a new generation of tools, technologies and methodologies focused on visualizing and automating the process of detecting and correcting defects as early and inexpensively as possible in the software development process.
Founded in 2004, Solidware is a start up company founded by Susan Kunz (president and CEO) and Char Devich (COO). The board of directors brings together technology industry luminaries, including Lucy Sanders (CEO National Center for Women and Information Technology, former CTO of Lucent and Avaya, and Bell Labs Fellow), John Brown (Partner, Arrow Holdings), Dane Smith (former VP sales, Verari Corporation and Sun), Dr. Peter Wilton (UC Berkeley Haas School of Business), and Bob Iannucci (patent attorney).
For more information on Solidware Technologies, and the splat software visualization and analysis application, visit www.solidw.com.
Solidware, the Solidware logo, and splat are trademarks of Solidware Technologies. Other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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