Say Goodbye and Good Riddance to Software Defects: Parasoft

“Founded in 1987, Parasoft’s software testing tools help Fortune 500 companies deliver top-quality software consistently and efficiently.”

Developing and evolving software is a complex endeavor. Many organizations take a leap of faith when they are under pressure to release on time, but aren’t certain that the software will behave as expected. It’s difficult to accurately assess application quality because a) modern applications are incredibly complex—for instance, a modern automobile typically involves over 100 million lines of code, and b) the number of systems (legacy systems, 3rd-party services, etc.) being integrated with each application is growing exponentially. Parasoft eliminates the guesswork by helping organizations prevent and detect defects from the earliest phases of the process, and then exercise functional tests automatically and continuously. This helps organizations release faster and ensure that high-risk applications do not reach end users.

Headquartered in Monrovia, CA, USA, Parasoft researches and develops software solutions that help organizations deliver defect-free software efficiently. The company prides itself on 29 years of R&D focused on preventing software defects by exposing malicious code patterns—including software defect categories such as security, performance, optimization, reliability, and maintainability. This has enabled Parasoft to evolve technologies that help organizations expose application hotspots and ultimately reduce the risk of faulty software.

Product offerings
Parasoft’s award winning tools are grouped in two focused platforms. Parasoft Development Testing Platform (DTP) provides software developers/engineers with a comprehensive, integrated set of tools for static analysis, unit testing, coverage analysis, change-based testing, and requirements traceability. In addition to helping organizations consistently apply these practices according to their development policies, DTP also features a first-of-its-kind predictive analytics engine that identifies risky patterns buried deep in the data and delivers an actionable list of prioritized findings based on the organization’s policies. Parasoft Continuous Testing Platform (CTP) provides service virtualization, API testing, test environment management and test data management for QA and functional testing. This enables DevTest teams to rapidly and continuously validate that applications satisfy business expectations around functionality, reliability, performance, and security. Together, both platforms help organizations increase velocity and ensure that high-risk release candidates don’t reach end users.

• Development Testing Platform (DTP)
  Parasoft Development Testing Platform (DTP) helps organizations identify and prevent software defects. Leveraging policies, DTP consistently applies software quality practices across teams and throughout the SDLC. It enables an organization’s quality efforts to shift left–delivering a platform for automated defect prevention and the uniform measurement of risk. DTP features Parasoft’s award-winning Process Intelligence Engine (PIE): the first and only technology that enables organizations to quickly find and remediate application hotspots according to development policies. PIE correlates observations across disparate parts of the SDLC infrastructure (test tools, source control, performance monitoring, etc.), then performs analysis to prioritize findings and deliver intelligent, actionable analytics. With this insight, organizations can instantly and accurately determine whether a release candidate has an acceptable level of risk or compliance to applicable regulatory/industry standards (e.g., ISO 26262, DO-178B/C, IEC 61508, and MISRA)—and if not, how to reach that point as efficiently as possible. This includes guidance on where teams need to add tests, retest code, and refactor tests in response to change.

Parasoft DTP features Report Center, Policy Center, and Process Intelligence Engine. Parasoft C/C++test, Jtest, and dotTEST DTP Engines add static analysis, unit testing, and coverage analysis. Parasoft Insure++ adds memory error detection.

• Continuous Testing Platform (CTP)
  The Parasoft Continuous Testing Platform (CTP)enables DevTest teams to exercise functional tests automatically and continuously even when dependent components connected to the application under test are not readily available in a test environment (for example, because they are not yet complete, owned by a third-party or partner, too complex to configure in a test lab, etc.). Leveraging technologies such as service virtualization, API testing, test data management and test environment management, CTP provides a simulated test environment which enables developers and testers to test anytime and anywhere. Even novice team members can configure and provision a complete test environment, then immediately execute tests against appropriate test environment configurations.

This rapid and continuous access to a complete test environment is especially critical for removing the process bottlenecks that commonly occur when Agile teams are developing interconnected system components in parallel—as well for instantly and continuously assessing a release candidate’s risks to meet the needs of DevOps and Continuous Delivery initiatives.

Parasoft CTP features Parasoft Virtualize (service virtualization), Parasoft Environment Manager (test environment management), Parasoft SOAtest (API testing), and Parasoft Test Data Manager (test data management).

Primary focus
The primary focus area is helping organizations to efficiently identify and resolve software defects before they impact end users. Parasoft is recognized as the pioneer of Automated Defect Prevention; they are unique in their focus on not only detecting defects as early as possible, but also preventing them from being introduced in the first place. This helps organizations bring better-quality deliverables to market faster and more efficiently.

Clientele
Parasoft solutions are primarily leveraged in a) industries that face safety or regulatory compliance requirements such as medical device, automotive, aerospace, and b) transaction-critical businesses such as banking, financial services, retail, and airlines. Examples of Parasoft’s embedded/safety-critical clients include Daimler-Benz, Medtronic, GM, Celgene, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, NASA, and Raytheon. Examples of Parasoft’s enterprise clients include Capital One, Fidelity, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Macy’s, Costco, Target, ETRADE, Disney, Visa, IRS, Citi, Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon.

Client testimonials
Leonardo-Finmeccanica (formerly SELEX Sisteme Integrati) designs, implements and markets large systems for homeland protection, battlefield management, etc. They initially approached Parasoft when they needed to rapidly expose memory leaks that were impacting a project already in production. After using Parasoft’s runtime error detection technology to find and resolve the root cause of that urgent issue, they worked with Parasoft to establish a methodology and tool set for preventing such problems from occurring in the first place. De Nicola, Leonardo-Finmeccanica product software verification and validation supervisor, explains that they were drawn to Parasoft’s tools because of their accuracy and ease of use. By working with Parasoft, Leonardo-Finmeccanica has significantly improved Java, C, and C++ code stability, reuse, and maintainability, as well as added a new level of automation and visibility to their verification process.

“Our creativity is the driving force.”

Meet the Key Executive

Dr. Elizabeth Kolawa, CEO – Elizabeth leads the overall direction and operations of the
company. Her in-depth knowledge and experience managing large, diverse technical organizations has proven invaluable as Parasoft continues to evolve its industry-leading software quality solutions. She brings over 25 years of experience managing major technical research programs for NASA and JPL—including the development of system-on-a-chip avionics, thermal cycling resistant electronics for the Mars rover embedded mobility system, advanced measurements and detection for planetary and astrophysics applications, as well as the space avionics and extreme environments technologies programs. Dr. Kolawa came to the United States in 1984, after receiving her Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland. She has authored over 140 technical papers and has been granted 11 patents. In addition, she has organized and chaired numerous workshops and sessions at major conferences throughout the world. In 2010, she was awarded the JPL Explorer Award for strategic leadership. She has been an active member of the Parasoft Board of Directors since the company’s inception in 1987.

“Our enterprise and embedded development solutions are the industry’s most comprehensive—including static analysis, unit testing, requirements traceability, coverage analysis, API testing, dev/test environment management, service virtualization
and more.”