Volvo to Standardize on Rational Software Products
1 March 2000
Volvo to Standardize on Rational Software Products
Volvo IT, Part of the Volvo Group, Standardizes the Company's Software
Development With Tools and Processes From Rational Software - 800 Developers
To Use Rational Suite AnalystStudio, Rational Suite TestStudio and Rational
Unified Process.
LEXINGTON, Mass., Feb. 29 --
Rational Software , the e-development company, announced today
that Volvo Information Technology (Volvo IT), a wholly owned company of the
Volvo Group and supplier of IT-related applications and services for all the
companies in the group and Volvo Car Corporation, is now standardizing on
tools and processes from Rational Software.
"We have been using tools from Rational Software for several years, mainly
the visual modeling tool Rational Rose, along with products from other
manufacturers. But now we are moving ahead and will standardize to a higher
extent on products from Rational Software," said Magnus Carlander, vice
president, Strategic Technologies at Volvo IT.
At Volvo IT, around 800 of all the 2,500 employees are directly involved
in system development and will use the solution from Rational Software. The
company will use products such as Rational Unified Process, Rational Suite
AnalystStudio, Rational Suite DevelopmentStudio, Rational Suite
PerformanceStudio and Rational Suite TestStudio.
Boris Karlsson is project manager at Volvo IT and responsible for the
implementation of the new development solution. "We have employees all over
the world, in Europe, Asia and the United States. Our goal is to use one
common process when developing and enhancing systems, regardless of where in
the world the development is being done."
The Rational Unified Process is a web-enabled, interactive software
development process that unifies the entire software development team and
enhances team communication by providing each team member with one knowledge
base, one modeling language and one view of how to develop software. Rational
Unified Process is used to guide developers throughout the complex analysis,
design and testing processes by prioritizing their activities. The Rational
Unified Process contains a searchable knowledge base, which is tightly
integrated with Rational tools and provides project members with an online
mentor. Tool mentors provides detailed guidance in how to effectively use
Rational tools in the context of the Rational Unified Process.
"Rational Unified Process and our Suite-products are key components in our
strategy to be the leading e-development company that helps organizations
develop and deploy their applications faster while improving quality," said
Eric Schurr, senior vice president, Marketing & Windows Suite Products for
Rational.
"The goal of our business is customer satisfaction and our customers want
systems that meets their business needs and that are delivered on time and on
budget. With a common and clear process, and common tools the goal is to
improve the quality of our work and shorten the development time
significantly. Volvo IT has selected Rational Unified Process and Rational
Suites to support that goal," said Boris Karlsson.
The Rational Software tools and Rational Unified Process will be used both
when developing new systems and when maintaining existing systems. During this
spring no less than ten new development projects, involving 60-70 developers,
will use the Rational Software products and the Rational Unified Process.
About Rational Software Corporation
Rational Software Corporation, the e-development company, helps
organizations develop and deploy software for e-business, e-infrastructure,
and e-devices through a combination of tools, services and software
engineering best practices. Rational's e-development solution helps
organizations overcome the e-software paradox by accelerating time to market
while improving quality. Rational's integrated solution simplifies the
process of acquiring, deploying and supporting a comprehensive software
development platform, reducing total cost of ownership. International Data
Corporation (IDC) has recognized Rational as the leader in multiple segments
of the software development life-cycle management market for three years in a
row. Founded in 1981, Rational, one of the world's largest Internet software
companies, had revenues of $411 million in its fiscal year that ended in
March, 1999 and employs more than 2,000 people around the world.
About Volvo Group
Volvo is one of the world's largest producers of trucks, buses and
construction equipment and holds a leading position in the fields of marine
and industrial engines and aircraft engine components. Founded in 1927, Volvo
today has 52,000 employees, production in 27 countries and a worldwide
marketing organization. The Volvo Group's earnings total more than SEK 114
billion in 1998.
Volvo IT is the groups supplier of IT-related applications and services.
The Volvo IT is also the IT-supplier for Volvo Car Corporation, the company
that manufactures Volvo cars and that is now owned by the Ford Corporation.
The Volvo IT Technology Company has 2 500 employees.