Service Virtualization Research - A Sneak Peek in Seattle

 

Seattle, the “Emerald City” is home to such historic landmarks as the Space Needle and cultural venues such as the Chihuly Glass Garden. Seattle is known for its stunning natural beauty and innovative culture.

On November 14, 2012 at 4:00PM Pacific, Seattle will add another first for the city! Seattle and its local CA Technologies LISA team will be host to a sneak peek of voke research on service virtualization. The research comes from a recently concluded survey and soon to be published report on why service virtualization is an imperative in today’s modern software lifecycle.

Just to get you ready for the event, here is a shocking statistic – remember, this is 2012 – 96% of survey participants reported waiting for access to the environments they need for development and testing! Do you fall into the 96% category? If so, this event is for you!

If you are in the Seattle area join THE event of the season and see why service virtualization is a must for every modern software lifecycle. Register here.

See you in Seattle!

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p.s if you are not in the Pacific Northwest, check for CA Technologies voke service virtualization sneak peeks and research premiers in your geography. Service virtualization and proof of its power is coming to a city near you.

The Agile Dilemma



Who doesn’t want to be agile? Ballet dancers, weight lifters, and business executives alike aspire to be agile – that liveliness, coordination, and quickness is something we all desire in life and business. Why then is there an “Agile Dilemma” in software development?

voke defines the “Agile Dilemma” as the inherent risk and confusion created by the business desire for speed and flexibility misinterpreted as a mandate to participate in the developer-centric movement called Agile, which may not be appropriate to all organizations or projects.

What this really means is that business executives are expressing the need to be flexible, nimble, and responsive to customers to ensure satisfaction and a competitive edge. The software development team is listening to this business mandate and interpreting it as a call to participate in the Agile movement. But, is participation in the Agile movement right for every organization or every project?

We wanted to find out how software teams were interpreting and using Agile, so we conducted a survey. The survey ran from July 2011 to January 2012. We had over 200 individual participants from around the globe and companies of all types and sizes take the survey and give us their opinions on Agile as it relates to software development.

Once the survey was completed and the data analyzed we wrote a report that details all of the findings and provides analysis. Just to give you a couple of examples of what we found:

• Participants shared over 100 unique definitions of what Agile is

• 57% report confusion about Agile

These stats give you some insight as to why there is an “Agile Dilemma”.

The full report is available to voke’s premium research subscribers or available for on-demand purchase.

Do You Know What Your Cost of Rework Is?
While we were surveying people about Agile, it became clear that the cost of rework of their software was largely a mystery. Rework is something everybody has, everybody budgets for, but are reluctant to admit it – at least publicly.

Since rework is something everybody must deal with, we thought it would be valuable to create models associated with rework in Agile and non-Agile environments. voke analysts used scenarios described in the Agile survey to develop three scenarios focused on the cost of rework in an Agile environment. As a baseline, we used the standard “Cost of Quality” model for rework in a non-Agile environment.

These rework models have been requested by software engineering teams of all types for quite some time. Now, you can see how rework numbers compare for Agile and non-Agile projects.

The full report is available to voke’s premium research subscribers or available for on-demand purchase.

Help your teams with the "Agile Dilemma" and understand the cost of rework – the answers may surprise you!

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IBM to Acquire Green Hat - Offers Part of a Lifecycle Virtualization Solution

IBM's intended acquisition (announced 4 January 2012) of Green Hat shows commitment to the importance of the lifecycle virtualization category by IBM. As application complexity continues to expand, lifecycle virtualization technology is absolutely critical to delivering a faster time-to-market and reducing both capital and operational expenditures.

Lifecycle virtualization is defined as the use of technologies such as virtual lab management, service virtualization, defect virtualization, device virtualization, virtualized cloud platforms, etc, to enhance the application or product lifecycle through reducing defects, lowering costs, speeding time-to-market, and increasing customer satisfaction.

Lifecycle virtualization is as evolutionary for testing as the advent of the IDE (integrated development environment) was for the development organization.

IBM has been absent in crafting a lifecycle virtualization solution within its application lifecycle management (ALM) offerings. While this acquisition is an important step for IBM, it offers only one component of lifecycle virtualization - service virtualization - to its customers.

To be viable in the lifecycle virtualization category, IBM must:
1. Take on the role of educating the market about the importance of lifecycle virtualization
2. Deliver state of the art lifecycle virtualization solutions that development and test teams can use and be productive with - the Green Hat acquisition is a start, there must be more substance to what IBM can offer as part of a comprehensive lifecycle virtualization solution.

To date, the lifecycle virtualization market has been void of the major ALM vendors to show the value virtualization can bring to the application lifecycle. Most recently, CA Technologies (not a vendor in the ALM market) with its acquistion of ITKO has been the only significantly sized vendor to publicly demonstrate the value of lifecycle virtualization. CA proudly showed off its ITKO acquistion at the recent CA World and consistently demonstrated how lifecycle virtualization will make a difference in dealing with today's complex applicat;ions and the need for a competitive time-to-market.

Development and testing teams are looking for and need complete lifecycle virtualization solutions to complement existing ALM solutions to speed time-to-market, lower capital and operational expenditures, and deliver on a total value of ownership. A lifecycle virtualization solution enables organizations to be more strategic with the most important asset in the economy of innovation - software.

Other significant vendors in the lifecycle virtualization category include:

• CA Technologies with a comprehensive lifecycle virtualization offering that encompasses labs, defect virtualization, and service virtualization through its recent acquistion of ITKO and the CA 3Tera AppLogic solution



• Citrix with its lab and virtualized cloud platform solutions offered through Citrix XenClient, Citrix XenServer, Crtirx CloudStack, and Citrix Cloud Portal



• Electric Cloud with virtualized cloud platforms through Electric Cloud ElectricCommander



• HP with service virtualization through its Service Virtualization offering



• Microsoft with its virtual lab and defect virtualization (IntelliTrace) solutions through Microsoft Visual Studio Test Professional 2010 and Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate with MSDN



• Parasoft with service virtualization and defect virtualization through Parasoft Virtualize



• Replay Solutions with defect virtualization through ReplayDIRECTOR



• Skytap with labs and virtualized cloud platforms through Skytap Cloud



• VMware with its virtualized cloud platform solutions through VMware vCloud Director



• Wind River with its lab and device virtualization solutions through Wind River Test Management (Lab Manager) and Simics

voke is predicting that lifecycle virtualization will be the hub of the modern application lifecycle. Lifecycle virtualization will help break down barriers between operations, development, and testing while aiding organizations in achieving a faster time-to-market while significantly reducing capital expenditures and increasing quality. For a complete vendor neutral analysis of the lifecycle virtualization category, see voke's Category Snapshot: Lifecycle Virtualization - November 2011.

Join voke in a webinar on January 18 for an in-depth discussion on lifecycle virtualization with Theresa Lanowitz, founder of voke and Jon Michelsen, founder of ITKO and CA distinguished engineer. Register here for the webinar.

Citrix Embraces Virtual Lab Management and Acquires VMLogix

Citrix is acquiring VMLogix! For those who may be unaware of VMLogix, the company is the creator of products in the market segment known as “virtual lab management”. This is the part of virtualization that is going to transform the application lifecycle as we know it.

This acquisition is big news, especially for anyone that deals with getting software or applications to market on time, on budget, and with a high level of quality. I just realized, that sums up pretty much every business in the world, so why hasn’t VMLogix and its product category of virtual lab management taken the world by storm? We believe that virtual lab management is the biggest innovation for software to come to fruition since the introduction of the IDE (integrated development environment).

If you use virtual lab management technology in your organization it is guaranteed that you have saved your organization lots of money, lots of time, and have become the favorite technical professional of anyone you deal with.

Here is how virtual lab management can help save time and money and even create peace between developers and testers.

• Virtual lab management can help operations professionals get away from the tactical and time consuming task of provisioning physical hardware. This means less money spent on capital expenditures (read hardware), less time worrying about physical machines, and more time to work on more strategic initiatives.

• Virtual lab management can help developers easily replicate a defect discovered by testing. Testers know how fond developers are of saying “it works on my machine”. Virtual lab will allow developers to test in an environment as close to production as possible and easily replicate those pesky defects testers so frequently find. This will then lead to peace between developers and testers.

• Virtual lab management can help testers build out the perfect production-like test lab without spending exorbitant amounts on hardware, software, and infrastructure. There is no need to wait for provisioning of equipment, schedule scarce resources, and worry about exceeding capital budgets.

If you think this is too good to be true, visit www.vokeinc.com and listen to our free webcast series on “What Tool Should I Buy: Virtual Lab Technology” and hear from leading vendors in the market on “How to Justify the Purchase: Virtual Lab Technology”. We also have an in-depth piece of vendor neutral research “Market Snapshot: Virtual Lab Management” available to our subscribers.

Virtual lab management delivers a clear and quick ROI and can be used in an organization of any size and any vertical market. We know what virtualization technology has done for the data center; check out virtual lab technology to see what virtualization can do for the application lifecycle. In fact, voke predicts that virtual lab technology will be the hub of the modern application lifecycle.

Watch for Citrix to begin to set strategic directions for the application lifecycle. And, watch for Citrix and Microsoft to expand and strengthen an already strong and complementary industry partnership.
We have only begun to scratch the surface of what virtualization and cloud technology will enable and deliver to the market.

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HP and Fortify – Application Security Now in the Lifecycle

HP announced its intent to acquire Fortify Software. Fortify represents one of the last standing original independent application security software vendors. Back in 2003, application security vendors were all the rage. The idea that security vulnerabilities occur rather frequently at the application level was 100% accurate. The problem with getting development and QA shops to fully embrace the notion of application security was one of skills and communication across organizational boundaries.

Think about developers and testing professionals, they have full time jobs that keep them more than busy. Now, add the complexity of developing and testing for security – that is a difficult task to add to an already full docket. Thus, application security, while necessary and vital, never gained the traction in the market that was expected.

So, slowly one by one, the pure play application security vendors were either acquired or disappeared. Fortify represents one of the last pure play application security vendors. And while what Fortify stands for and can deliver, application security needs a heftier brand to put the message forth at the executive level. This is where HP comes into play.

HP’s acquisition of Fortify is important to the market in many respects. The intended acquisition helps HP shore up its application lifecycle offering in the developer arena, this is a big win for existing HP customers. HP can talk about the desired outcomes with C-level executives and have a comprehensive message for the business. Overall, this acquisition is positive for market.

Read a more detailed analysis of the HP acquisition of Fortify in our voke First Impressions research here.

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Citrix Synergy – Setting the Bar for the 2010 Conference Season
It is official – the 2010 summer conference season is now underway beginning with #CitrixSynergy in San Francisco!

Citrix set the bar quite high for the 2010 conference season, Synergy was all about simplicity. And with the explosion of complexity in IT over the past decade, simplicity is exactly what everyone is craving.

Citrix clearly understands that while the cloud is great and interesting and a cost saver and every other adjective that has been attached to it, the cloud is not the only component of modern solutions. Citrix clearly and concisely identifies “virtualization + networking + cloud” to create synergies across the stack and deliver virtual computing enabling people to work where and how they desire. This is brilliant and yes, simple. Making things “simple” is painstakingly difficult, that is why so few technology vendors can articulate a clear and concise value proposition – simple is hard.

Citrix CEO Sets the Tone
Citrix CEO, Mark Templeton, is one of the most visionary CEOs in the industry. His discussions are always focused and designed to deliver a message that resonates well with every audience member. Attendees of Citrix Synergy were fortunate to hear Mark’s view of virtual computing during the daily keynote sessions.

Within the first 10 seconds of taking the stage, Mark Templeton graciously thanked the Citrix customers. This may seem trite and expected, but the thank you was sincere and the audience knew it. This is in sharp contrast to what is on display at competitive conferences.

Each day was laser focused on one of two topics:
1. Virtual workstyle
2. Virtual datacenter

For each of these two topics partners and customers were prominently featured. Citrix highlighted an entire ecosystem of solutions that focus on “workshifiting” – putting work where you want it to be and move to a more optimal place.

The notion of “workshifting” was the backdrop for the keynote sessions and the entire conference. During the keynote focused on virtual workstyle, Mark made several observations that show why Citrix is able to deliver such innovative solutions.

Some of the key takeaway points about virtual workstyle were:

Citrix: There is no such thing as a technology project, only business projects that require technology.

voke commentary: This statement clearly demonstrates how Citrix thinks about the solutions they deliver. The company focuses on enabling business and making it easier for the business to work. This logic is in direct contrast to so many of today’s software companies. This simplicity is by design and a hallmark of Citrix discussions and solutions.

Citrix: Devices do not matter – we have screen size options depending upon our needs at a particular point. We have large screens for creation and empowerment, small screens for alerting us or “snacking” on information, and medium screens for entertainment and education.

voke commentary: Citrix makes the software that enables users to focus on on the experience of what they are doing. The ability to have access to your own information when, where, and how it is needed has been the goal for a number of years, we are finally seeing this achieved through today’s well behaved technology.

Citrix: BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) goes mainstream. Organizations do not want to own the physical hardware asset; they do own the data and IP. The BYOC concept helps organizations attract talent seeking intellectually stimulating environments.

voke commentary: BYOC is a smart concept that lets organizations focus on what really matters – being competitive in their market segment.

Citrix and Microsoft: The Ultimate Power Couple
The big highlight was the strong partnership between Citrix and Microsoft. A presentation by Brad Anderson, Microsoft corporate vice president of the Management and Services Division revealed how the partnership between the two companies is influencing desktop virtualization. Microsoft’s strong working relationship with Citrix is showing the industry that the tried and true quintessential software vendor is taking advantage of what Citrix has learned over the past 20 years about desktop virtualization and adapting to the world of virtualized computing.

The Microsoft presentation may have been the most important component of the Synergy event. Microsoft and Citrix make a compelling power couple that can really shape the way we use and view not just computing but virtualized computing. This is truly a partnership to watch.

The Synergy conference was a great start to conference season and really set the stage for the conference season. As an analyst, I am fortunate to attend the most important and influential technology events each and every year. If you are unable to attend the conferences, check back for blog posts on the events of the summer. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/vokeinc, and at the end of conference season, tune in to the voke webcast channel to get our commentary and analysis of all the conferences and the insight behind the Tweets.

Happy conference season.

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Virtual Lab Management – Bringing Peace Between Testers and Developers

Every person has heard a developer say “it works on my machine”. This simple and true statement has been at the center of so many non-reproducible software defects. The problem is testers need to work in an environment as close to production as possible, that means keeping developers out and keeping the test environment pristine. Developers need to move through the development process and make sure their code works, which means having an environment that suits their needs. In other words, the developer environment may not be pristine, but it works the way they need it to work so the developer can continue to work.

So in this age old conflict of “it works on my machine” who is right, the developer or the tester? Guess what, both are right! And now, thanks to virtual lab technology the phrase “it works on my machine” can be stricken from the vocabulary of a developer and never heard by a tester again, because they will always be able to replicate the defect in question.

How? Virtual lab technology. Virtual lab technology uses virtualization technology to give testers an environment as close to production as possible. This ability to take a snapshot of the production environment and replicate it through virtualization eliminates the expense of establishing, maintaining, and managing a test lab.

Testers can test in the environment as close to production as possible, identify defects and simply give the developer the URL of the defect! Developers are able to eliminate the time consuming back and forth dialog with testers and easily replicate the defect in the same environment as close to production as possible!

And, because virtual lab technology offers self-service provisioning the bottleneck of waiting for the ops team to provision an environment is gone!

Think about it – bottleneck reduction, environments as close to production as possible, reproducible defects – this is what we have been waiting for and it is here today in the form of virtual lab technology.

We at voke recently released our Market Snapshot Report: Virtual Lab Management in which we surveyed 100 organizations using virtual lab technology. We found that virtual lab technology helped increase productivity, decrease the number of servers and physical machines required, and saved money. Check out the report available to voke Research subscribers at www.vokeinc.com.

We also launched a new free on-demand webcast series to discuss the most frequently asked questions of voke analysts. In the first webcast series, we answer the question “what tool should I buy for virtual lab management”. We are also joined by leading market vendors Citrix, CloudShare, and VMLogix to answer the question “how do I justify a virtual lab solution”. Listen to our on-demand webcast series here.

So, think about how your organization is working. Are you being asked to lower your capital expenses and do more with less? Do you have to wait for environments to be provisioned? Do you have the age old developer/tester conflict on non-reproducible defects because of differing environments? If you answer yes to any of these questions, virtual lab technology is a solution to investigate. The ROI is quick and easy to identify and calculate. And, best of all, there are solid solutions on the market today to help you on your way to creating peace and harmony between your developers and testers.

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