Solidware’s Splat swats bugs in software code

BOULDER – Solidware Technologies’ software is a lot like a fly swatter for software engineers: Its flagship product, Splat, helps programmers eliminate bugs before they can make a mess out of software code.

Splat’s ability to speed up and simplify the testing process garners Solidware the 2006 IQ Award for software products and services.

Unlike some other software testing tools, Splat doesn’t find or fix software bugs. Instead it looks at the code as a whole and determines where in it there’s the greatest likelihood of finding bugs so programmers can concentrate on those areas.

Splat uses “adaptive analysis,´ said Chief Executive Sue Kunz. “This is great technology. We applied for a patent on it.”

Adaptive analysis involves examining the code with “algorithms that modify themselves based upon the data,” Kunz explained. “It enables us to squeeze out the variations.”

Using Splat can save time, effort and money in the debugging process because the lines of code that are more likely to have problems are tested first, Kunz said.

When Splat identifies high-risk areas in code, programmers can focus their attention on testing those particular areas for bugs.

Splat is geared toward large, complex software projects made up of thousands of lines of code because they are more prone to error than smaller projects.

Another characteristic of Splat is its user-friendly presentation. Instead of a printout listing areas of concern, users get “a picture of their software,” Kunz said, in the form of a 3-D graphic.

Solidware, which recently launched version 1.0 of Splat following a yearlong beta version, has grown quickly and moved twice during its two-year lifespan.

It recently hired one of its advisers, Ahmad Zandi, as chief technology officer and vice president of engineering. The former Sun Microsystems executive “has great fundamental knowledge of data analysis, and he brought in adaptive analysis,” Kunz said.

Solidware has four customers including Sun and Vidiom Systems, a Broomfield-based technology provider to the telecommunications industry.

Solidware is working on four additional products it hopes to bring out over the next few years. But at eight employees, “We’re small so we have to focus on the each product,” Kunz said. “We have to have a plan that takes us out five or six years.”

It also has launched a professional services practice called Continuous Readiness Assessment. “We take our product and integrate into the client’s build environment,” Kunz said, so Splat is analyzing code in real time.

The service affords customers “a way to derive more value early in the development process,” Kunz said. “And it’s a way for us to drive revenue and get good feedback.”

Contact Caron Schwartz Ellis at 303-440-4950 or csellis@bcbr.com.

Solidware Technologies

75 Manhattan Drive, Suite 304, Boulder, CO 80303

303- 413-8616, 720-226-0716

www.solidw.com

Sue Kunz, chief executive

Employees: 8

Founded: 2004

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