Software Analysis and Measurement is a Critical but Often Overlooked Component of Development

The value and importance of big data analytics is becoming a game changer as organizations look for new ways to gain intelligence and actionable insight from the vast amounts of data they generate. But rarely is any sort of in-depth analysis of software conducted, which is interesting, considering this type of assessment offers valuable information about quality, risk, security and other important factors.

CAST Software specializes in software analysis and measurement, examining software applications at the source code level. This type of in-depth analysis yields all types of value that can ultimately help developers and architects strengthen their offerings. We got a chance to speak to Lev Lesokhin, executive VP of strategy and market development at CAST, about how the company has evolved, particularly in light of the popularity of cloud computing.

“It is unsettling and surprising that most IT organizations still don’t measure the structural quality and software risk of their software assets,” said Lesokhin. “Given all the software-related outages we read about in the press all the time, as well as the recent increase in hacking of corporate data, the IT industry is practically bordering on malpractice. It is time for IT management to take control and start measuring their software assets regularly and working on plans to improve these assets over time.”

CAST strives to help software developers with that challenge by offering solutions that detect flaws in source code. The company also provides measurement technology, all designed to provide managers with actionable analytics about their output.

“Analytics about the software product that’s always under construction is the missing piece in most IT organizations’ analytics puzzle,” said Lesokhin. The cloud complicates matters even more, introducing risks like overpaying for CPU, network and storage resources because of inefficient or complex software. The cloud also introduces stability issues associated with dealing with a new architecture, as well as security risks.

But the cloud also represents massive opportunities and CAST customers have actually used the company’s solutions to assess the readiness of their applications as they anticipate migration to the cloud. Customers also benefit from CAST’s reverse engineering features to provide a blueprint of their current architecture, which is useful when making the move to the cloud.

According to Lesokhin, the company’s customers represent a wide range of vertical markets, including telecom, utilities, banking, ecommerce and government. “For such businesses, software is a core asset to run their business. It is very complex, and it needs to be changed all the time. More recently, CAST has onboarded many manufacturing customers as well due to our ability to analyze the SAP (News - Alert), OBS and several other package software customization technologies. SAP customizations tend to be very large and very expensive to maintain.”

CAST will be working on an advanced software certification capability in the coming months, which will essentially use current industry standards to put an “ingredients label” on a software product. The company is also planning a new release of its application intelligence platform, AIP 8.0, this fall. 

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