Borland Defines Open Application Lifecycle Management

Business Wire, Jan 29, 2007

Process-Driven Integration the Foundation of Borland's Open ALM Solutions - Open to Customers' Processes, Tools and Platforms

CUPERTINO, Calif. -- Borland Software Corporation (NASDAQ:BORL) (www.borland.com), today introduced a new, customer-centric approach to transforming software delivery into a managed business process called Open Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). The Company also outlined its product strategy and unveiled Gauntlet([TM]), a new Open ALM product providing real-time visibility and software quality metrics across the entire delivery lifecycle.

"Borland carries a strong reputation for being the maverick of the software sector," said Tod Nielsen, president and CEO of Borland Software. "We began expanding beyond developer tools to ALM four years ago. Today, we clarify our position within a market that is quickly dividing into two camps: those that support a flexible, customer-centric approach to ALM, and those that are promoting closed, monolithic approaches. Open ALM is our stake in the game, and Borland will fight for the rights of our customers who are passionate about driving the next generation of software productivity on their terms."

Open ALM

Open implies flexibility and customer choice. Customers need the flexibility to define, manage and measure their software delivery processes based on their own unique needs. Their existing investments in tools and practices should be easily incorporated into an overall solution, regardless of vendor origin. Finally, a customer's software delivery process should be independent of any specific deployment platform or technologies, yet supportive of all. This is the benchmark for an Open ALM solution.

"Monolithic approaches to ALM are old news. Open ALM as Borland has defined it is much more aligned with how businesses today are managing the accelerating and adaptive delivery methodologies," said Chris Meystrik, vice president of software engineering at Jewelry Television. "What we really find exciting is Borland's commitment to providing solutions that are flexible enough to support our specific processes, tools and platforms. This truly has the potential to deliver on our vision of ALM and help Jewelry Television deliver enterprise software that allows us to continue our explosive growth."

Open ALM is defined by the following characteristics:

* Any Process: The value of ALM tools is in their ability to automate, track and measure key processes in software delivery. Open ALM supports the customer's established processes, whether waterfall, Agile, RUP or custom.

* Any Tools: Open ALM enables customers to use any combination of lifecycle tools - commercial and open-source - that they choose, while providing visibility and traceability of assets and activities across them and the phases they support.

* Platform Agnostic: The majority of enterprises have a degree of technology heterogeneity. Open ALM supports organizations deploying applications to a broad range of platforms.

* Metrics and Measurement: You can't improve what you can't measure. Open ALM works to automate third-party data collection to drive cross-process software delivery metrics and measurement.

Open ALM Product Strategy - Process-Driven Integration

Process-driven integration - the ability for tools to work together and to share digital assets in a way that best supports a customer's specific software delivery process - is at the heart of Borland's product strategy, as is the ability to manage, measure and improve these key processes. Borland's vision for Open ALM is to enable customers to automate existing processes through the integration of any combination of lifecycle tools, while providing a management layer that offers unified metrics and reporting. To deliver on this vision, Borland has outlined the following Open ALM product strategy:

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"Tomorrow's ALM is a platform for the coordination and management of development activities, not a collection of life-cycle tools with locked-in and limited ALM features," states Carey Schwaber, senior analyst with Forrester Research.(1) "Borland has worked long and hard to improve the integration among its own tools and with 3rd-party tools. Its ongoing strategy makes it easier for customers to implement, maintain and employ ALM automation technologies. That's aligned with the shifts we see as necessary for improving the productivity of software organizations."

The Open ALM Manifesto

In an effort to drive fundamental change in the way that organizations approach software delivery, Borland has published an Open ALM Manifesto. This "bill of rights" represents the compass that will direct all of Borland's offerings, initiatives, and customer interactions. It is constructed on the premise that all customers deserve the opportunity to transform their software delivery processes in a way that meets their unique needs and will ultimately result in software that delivers maximum business value. Principles of the Borland Open ALM Manifesto include: