Microsoft said it will release Visual Studio 2005 Team
Foundation Server, its data warehouse and collaboration software,
to manufacturing today.
Team Foundation Server lets developers match project management and software
design to ensure that applications meet business requirements.
The software collects information on project history, including impact
analysis, capacity planning and resource management, a spokesperson said in
a statement.
To alleviate customer concerns about compliance and auditing, Team Foundation
Server also lets companies collect information to create customized reports
that help address the government regulations.
The software is a key piece of Microsoft’s application lifecycle management
(ALM) strategy. ALM helps customers track and manage software projects,
ensure they’re as bug-free as possible, and see them through to completion.
Microsoft pits its ALM strategy and products against software from Borland
and IBM’s Rational division.
Microsoft said some partners plan to ship products in conjunction with Team
Foundation Server.
One partner, Teamprise, will unveil Teamprise Client Suite 1.0.
This
software allows software development teams to use the source control and
work item tracking features of Team Foundation Server from within the
Eclipse integrated development environment and from other operating
systems, such as Linux and Mac OS X.
Also, EDS and Fujitsu plan to use Team Foundation Server to collect data for
impact analysis and capacity planning.
Team Foundation Server software “bits” are expected to be available to
customers on Microsoft’s developer network early next week.