Borland Introduces New Release of Together for Visual Studio .NET to Further Advance Modeling Capabilities for Microsoft .NET Users

Business Wire, April 18, 2005

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. -- Role-Based Together Suite Offers Easy-to-Use Modeling Tools with UML 2.0 Support for the Microsoft Development Environment

Borland Software Corporation (Nasdaq:BORL), a global leader for Software Delivery Optimization(TM) solutions, today announced the newest release of Borland(R) Together(R) 2005 for Microsoft(R) Visual Studio(R) .NET, a significantly updated version of its popular Together modeling suite for Visual Studio .NET users. The release marks the first Borland role-based modeling solution for .NET and is one of the first products to support the UML(R) 2.0 standard for Microsoft's development environment.

Together for Visual Studio .NET provides Visual Studio developers with an important bridge between Microsoft's own modeling solutions, including the emerging Software Factories approach, and advanced modeling benefits offered through the use of the industry standard Unified Modeling Language(TM) (UML). The new Together 2005 for Visual Studio .NET suite includes Together Designer and Together Developer, integrated and easy-to-use products made available individually for role-specific modeling functions within the software development lifecycle.

"Modeling will continue to play an increasing role in making software delivery more successful by reducing the risk of project failure, reducing costs through reuse and enhancing team communication," said Raaj Shinde, vice president of product strategy and architecture, Borland. "But in order to see these gains, teams need easier-to-use tools that allow them to see the merits of modeling individually yet provide the ability to work seamlessly across job functions. Together 2005 helps make modeling and UML more approachable and usable for the growing number of .NET users by giving analysts, designers and developers the right tools specific to their job function."

Flexible, Easy-to-Use Modeling for .NET

Together 2005 for Visual Studio .NET is designed to provide Microsoft developers with flexible levels of modeling capabilities based on the specific degree of modeling complexity and utilization preferred by their teams and business requirements. Capabilities range from use case diagrams and physical class models, to audits, metrics and re-factorings, as well as initial support for Model-Driven Architectures (MDAs). This flexibility makes the tools easier to use, while helping organizations elevate their modeling practices to more efficiently and successfully develop software.

"The more formal and rigorous your models, the more you can benefit from automated transformations and generation of code," stated Carl Zetie, vice president of Forrester Research in a January 2005 report entitled, 'Model-Driven' Matters More Than MDA. "However, even without formal models, you can gain a better shared understanding of business requirements and of the structure of implemented code. Even formalizing a small subset of models -- such as class diagrams -- opens up the opportunity for gains in productivity."

"We see domain-specific tools such as Together for Visual Studio .NET as a great way for organizations to improve the rate of success for their development life-cycle processes," said Prashant Sridharan, lead program manager of Visual Studio 2005 Team System at Microsoft Corp. "These tools help organizations take advantage of advanced modeling capabilities and are the first step toward a Software Factory approach to development."

A Role-Based Modeling Solution

The new role-specific design of Together for Visual Studio .NET is intended to help Visual Studio .NET users more effectively realize the benefits of modeling within their software development efforts. Challenges that have historically thwarted widespread adoption of modeling practices -- such as lack of standardization, the ability to organize and understand large volume of requirements and difficult, often complex tools -- are greatly mitigated through the role-based design and flexible nature of the Together 2005 suite.

The Together for Visual Studio .NET suite offers two role-specific products, Together Designer and Together Developer. Together Designer targets analysts and architects that need to validate software design and model requirements, while Together Developer targets developers that need to reduce complexity, improve quality and more easily understand their existing code base. Specific features and benefits include:

--Lower the risk of software implementation -- The risk of common and avoidable errors during the design and build phases are reduced with key capabilities like design patterns, code visualization and re-factoring, which drive higher-quality applications without slowing development cycles. Audits and metrics enable coding standards to be measured and tracked within the models, while built-in unit testing helps uncover issues earlier in development.

--Improve efficiencies in the development lifecycle -- Extensive automation and timesaving capabilities enable development teams to work more productively. Key capabilities include automatic document generation; reuse of software assets such as patterns and component definition; rapid propagation of changes through re-factoring; and diagram search capabilities. In addition, unique Borland LiveSource(TM) reverse-engineering technology offers "round-trip" capabilities that help keep models and code synchronized at all times.