Borland Defines Open Application Lifecycle Management

“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:

“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 3^rd-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:

About Borland

Founded in 1983, Borland (NASDAQ:BORL) is the leading vendor of Open Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solutions – open to customers’ processes, tools and platforms – providing the flexibility to manage, measure and improve the software delivery process. To learn more about maximizing the business value of software, visit http://www.borland.com.

Borland, Gauntlet, Caliber, DefineIT, Silk, SilkCentral, Test Manager and all other Borland brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of Borland Software Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Mercury, TestDirector and all other Mercury brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of Mercury Interactive Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

¹ “The Changing Face Of Application Life-Cycle Management,” Forrester Research, Inc., August 2006.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined under the U.S. Federal Securities Laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is subject to the safe harbors created by such laws. Forward-looking statements may relate to, but are not limited to, the features available in, and the potential benefits to be derived from, Borland products and solutions, and the release dates, plans and market acceptance of such products and solutions, including the Borland Open ALM solution. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties and risks that may cause actual events or results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include, among others, the following: rapid technological change that can adversely affect the demand for Borland products, shifts in customer demand, shifts in strategic relationships, delays in Borland’s ability to deliver its products and services, software errors or announcements by competitors. These and other risks may be detailed from time to time in Borland periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and its latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained from www.sec.gov. Borland is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Information contained in our website, or in other press releases or other documents referred to herein, is not incorporated by reference in, or made part of this press release.

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