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- What are you announcing today?
IBM has acquired BuildForge, a leading provider of build and release management software. BuildForge is a privately-held company, formed in January 2001. The company is headquartered in Austin, TX. BuildForge has 41 employees.
- What was the purchase price?
IBM is not disclosing the purchase price.
- Why did IBM acquire BuildForge?
IBM has acquired BuildForge for their market leading build and release process management capabilities. BuildForge products help clients accelerate software delivery, as well as meet audit and compliance mandates. The combination of IBM and BuildForge technology helps clients close the gap between writing code, building an application and releasing into production. This is another step in IBM Rational's strategy to help clients govern the business process of software and systems development.
- What are the trends and client requirements that drove this acquisition?
Organizations are increasingly under pressure to deliver enterprise products and services faster. Development organizations are hard pressed to manage complex applications, coordinate globally distributed development and production teams while maintaining high software quality. Additionally, they are faced with the need to meet compliance mandates — either from external or internal pressures — that require complete traceability and audit trails that demand a new flexible development infrastructure. BuildForge products help clients accelerate software delivery, as well as meet audit and compliance mandates across distributed, cross-platform environments.
- What do BuildForge products do?
BuildForge products provide complete build and release process management. They provide a framework that helps development teams to standardize and automate tasks and share information. Build acceleration capabilities make the process fast, resulting in fast time-to-market. Enterprise reporting and analytics improve visibility into the build and release process. Process control and audit trails help meet compliance requirements. BuildForge products are designed to help clients deliver applications fast and in a compliant manner.
- How long has BuildForge been an IBM Business Partner?
BuildForge has been an IBM Business Partner since 2004. BuildForge validated as Ready for Rational software in November 2005.
- How does the BuildForge technology extend the value of the IBM Rational Software Delivery Platform?
BuildForge technology adds new capabilities in build and release process management, including a centralized management console, build acceleration and reporting capabilities. BuildForge products can allow IBM Rational clients to reduce the time it takes to perform a large system build, allowing fast time-to-market. They can enable clients to establish a consistent and repeatable build process for improved software quality. Combined with Rational products, they can help clients achieve sustainable compliance management through integrated audit capabilities and greater lifecycle traceability across development, test and release processes.
- What is the primary value provided by BuildForge products?
BuildForge products can accelerate software delivery, facilitate iterative development and continuous integration, help clients meet audit and compliance mandates, and enable development flexibility through support for distributed, heterogeneous environments.
- Does IBM intend to further develop these products? What is the roadmap plan for these products?
Yes. IBM recognizes that build and release management is key to IBM Rational's strategy to help clients govern the business process of software and systems development. IBM currently plans to further develop and integrate these products, based on the needs of the market.
- Why is the BuildForge solution the best choice?
BuildForge products offer full build and release process management. They provide multi-platform, cross-platform support, LDAP security, a wide range of out-of-the-box adaptors, non-proprietary build acceleration, and Web-based clients enabling remote/distributed access.
BuildForge tools integrate with IBM Rational ClearCase, IBM Rational ClearQuest, and IBM Rational Application Developer so clients can take advantage of BuildForge's build and release automation and acceleration tools today. BuildForge validated their products, including a developer self-service Eclipse plugin, as Ready for Rational software in November 2005. With BuildForge products, clients can obtain an automated and consistent build process across all their platforms, whether they are using open source or proprietary platforms, without having to learn multiple tools.
Product plans referenced above may change at any time at IBM's sole discretion based on market opportunities or other factors, and are not intended to be a commitment to future product or feature availability in any way. All statements regarding IBM future direction or intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only. All information is provided on an “as is” basis, without any warranty of any kind.
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