Bringing a new meaning to the phrase ‘elevator pitch’, yesterday Borland Software hosted a select group of customers and developers nearly 400 ft above Millbank in Central London for the inaugural Borland ‘Better Together’ event. Because, to achieve an all-round perspective, you need a room with a view and Altitude’s viewing platform is modelled on the Empire State Building (except it’s much harder to see Central Park).
Borland software guru Gregor Rechberger and fellow product managers gave the visiting ‘Borlanders’ the lowdown on all that’s new with the Silk portfolio and Atlas product sets.
Show and tell
Customers like to share experiences with other users and Borland want to know what all of them are saying. Does the software deliver everything our users want? Does it reflect what the market needs? That’s why we were so pleased to hear from Borland customers Cegedim and Fujitsu who spoke highly of Silk Central’s effective test management.
Anyone working across multiple teams or looking to make improvements through tracking and reporting, will have noted the benefits our guests enjoyed using Borland tools across the whole SDLC.
After a splendid lunch (no danger of Altitude sickness here) delegates were treated demos of Silk Performer Cloudburst, Silk Central and Caliber. Becky Wetherill, the go-to girl for all things testing, outlined the latest thinking around test management. (In a rapidly-shifting landscape it’s good to get some navigation tips.)
From Altitude’s observation deck it’s possible to see as far eastwards as Ford’s old Dagenham car plant in Essex – and there were plenty of potential panel-beaters at this event. Noel Slane hosted the discussion for a panel of Borland industry experts, and with separate QA events held throughout the day, there were plenty of opportunities for customers and their Borland hosts to swap knowledge.
Hip to be square
The launch of Borland Credits – the innovative, pay-as-you-go, use-only-when-you-need-it payment package tied in with the release of Silk Performer CloudBurst– was behind the Cash Cube competition, pictured here. Richard Sargent of Cisco walked away from the Cash Cube with a Kindle Fire HD. If testing projects were a chocolate factory, then these would be the golden tickets.
As the sun – and a few drinks – went down, we rounded out the day with a lively panel discussion. It was an interesting platform for us to better understand the issues our customers face in delivering quality software in an agile, changing world – and for our customers to see how Micro Focus tools can help to meet those challenges with leading edge software.
But what goes up, must come down and we finished around 6pm, looking back on a great event. We’re looking forward to hitting new heights in product development using the insight we’ve gained from this session.
We’re also thinking about where to have the next one – we should be more inclusive of our vertigo sufferers. Thanks to everyone who came and made the experience so memorable.
