Tasktop Sync Brings Requirements To Developers And Testers, And Back Again, With New Integrations

DALLAS, Aug. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Agile2012 Conference -- Tasktop Technologies (tasktop.com), creator of Eclipse Mylyn and the leader for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) integration, today announced Tasktop Sync 2.4, the latest version of its integration platform for connecting cross-functional enterprise teams and tools. The new Tasktop Sync enables cross-tool traceability and collaboration by connecting requirements tools, and the business analysts that use them, with existing Agile project management, development and test functions. Together with new analytics and web interface capabilities, Tasktop Sync provides organizations with a holistic view of the entire software development lifecycle, across a diverse set of enterprise, Agile and open-source ALM tools. 

"Due to the disruption caused by Agile, requirements management is one of the fastest-changing parts of the ALM landscape," said Mik Kersten, CEO of Tasktop and creator of the Eclipse Mylyn open source project. "The problem is that the new breed of requirements management tools is just as disconnected from popular development tools like JIRA, and test tools like HP Quality Center, as the legacy tools they are trying to replace. Tasktop Sync 2.4 bridges that gap, enabling business analysts, developers and testers to work in their tool of choice, while ensuring that business analysts never lose track of a requirement as it makes its way through the lifecycle."

IT organizations with separate test, development and business analysis/planning functions are increasingly using Tasktop Sync to improve collaboration, productivity and agility. By connecting requirements management to development and testing, this new version of Tasktop Sync extends its value to address the needs of business analysts and project managers. In addition to connectors for more than a dozen project management, development and testing tools, Tasktop Sync now connects IBM RequisitePro (ReqPro), IBM Rational Requirements Composer (RRC) and CA Product Vision into the Tasktop ALM ecosystem.  With Tasktop Sync, business analysts, and the tools they use, are fully integrated into the software delivery lifecycle.  IT organizations also have complete traceability back to each requirement as it crosses IT functions and departments, transforming software maintenance into a quality-improving discipline and ensuring that development efforts are focused and relevant to the exact needs of the business. 

In addition to change management and requirements integrations, the new version of Tasktop Sync includes:

• New Dashboards and Analytics – empower and provide more functionality for systems administrators through improved notifications and monitoring tools that speed recovery time and drive uptime of underlying ALM systems. In addition they improve visibility, and the measurement of the connectivity of tools within a software delivery organization, through a set of metrics on how the connections are working, and how many work items, defects or requirements are moving around the system.
• New Web UI – provides ALM process managers and administrators with access and visibility into the status of tool connections without having to log onto the servers that run them. These new capabilities extend Tasktop Sync administration beyond the Eclipse IDE interface to provide more convenience and flexibility to manage multiple ALM tool stacks via the Web.  

"The value of this Tasktop Sync release is to connect the entire software lifecycle as a means of creating efficiencies to improve change management across departments and ensure complete visibility and traceability," said Dave West, Chief Product Officer for Tasktop. "With earlier versions of Tasktop Sync, we focused on connecting testers to developers.  With this latest release, we now extend the benefits of Tasktop Sync to requirements to provide customers, especially those within highly regulated industries, the ability to trace work items, defects and test plans back to requirements."

Tasktop continues to solve major challenges for software organizations that are implementing enterprise-wide Agile and ALM modernization initiatives by connecting developers, through Tasktop Dev, and cross-functional enterprise teams, through Tasktop Sync, to automate the entire application lifecycle. All Tasktop products leverage the Eclipse Mylyn task-based integration framework to provide a more strategic and lightweight synchronization solution than standard REST API and pure data-store integrations. Its tools provide visibility into ALM work flow, real-time data sharing of cross-function activities and context into actual performance and business value. Sync Studio, Tasktop Sync's visual monitoring, analytics and management tool for ALM systems, helps IT organizations get control of the heterogeneous toolsets used to deliver software, resulting in an ability to deliver market value quicker, reduce inefficiencies and promote collaboration and innovation by connecting individuals and teams across the enterprise.

Availability

Tasktop Sync 2.4 is available now and pricing starts at $299 per user per year. Alternate pricing and volume discounts are available.  For more information please visit (http://tasktop.com/blog/?p=6611).

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About Tasktop Technologies
Tasktop Technologies is the industry leader for Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) integration and developer productivity. The company's mission is to connect the world of software delivery through its Task Federation™ technology that maximizes the flow of information between tools, people, teams and processes. Tasktop created and leads the Eclipse Mylyn project, with more than 2 million downloads per month, upon which its commercial Tasktop Sync ALM middleware and Tasktop Dev IDE tools are based. The company's innovative technology solves one of the biggest challenges facing the software industry today – the complete disconnect and brittle integrations of ALM tools. Tasktop's partner ecosystem consists of open source, point tools and leading ALM suites, to integrate more than 70 disparate ALM tools with real-time connectivity and cross-repository workflow support. For more information, visit (http://tasktop.com).

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SOURCE Tasktop Technologies