Press Release

Needham, MA – April 17, 2018 – Dr. Bill Curtis, the Executive Director of the Consortium for Information & Software Quality™ (CISQ™), a recognized authority in software quality and sizing, will serve as a keynote speaker at the QUEST conference in San Antonio, Texas. The conference attracts managers and practitioners, quality professionals, and software development professionals interested in new technologies and proven methods for quality engineered software and testing. His keynote titled, “Software Intelligence: Structural Quality Analysis and Machine Learning,” is scheduled from 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 23.

Dr. Curtis heads CISQ, which is chartered to produce international standards for automating the measurement of structural quality from source code. A SVP and Chief Scientist at CAST, he leads CAST Research Labs in applying visualization and machine learning to structural quality analysis. With 40 years of experience in software, Dr. Curtis is best known for leading development of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and People CMM at the Software Engineering Institute. He is also a Fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to software process improvement and measurement.

Dr. Curtis’ keynote will examine the C-Suite’s demand for more accountability and improvements in software processes. He will also discuss recent results from machine learning research in software quality and review international standards for measuring the structural quality of software developed by CISQ, along with results of empirical research on how some of the most severe flaws are distributed in business applications.

According to Dr. Curtis, “The software stack is increasingly complex and exceeds the ability of developers to fully understand all the interactions. Consequently, human-based quality practices must be augmented by advanced technology. I will describe the CISQ standards that are available now to automate the analysis and measurement of software quality, and the role that machine learning plays in providing deeper intelligence into structural quality pathologies.”

In addition to Dr. Curtis’ keynote, Joe Jarzombek, from CISQ sponsor Synopsys, will present “Software Integrity: Integrated Focus for Software Quality and Security” from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. on May 23. A retired Lt. Col. in the U.S. Air Force and a Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional, Jarzombek is Director for Government, Aerospace & Defense Programs for the Synopsys Software Integrity Group. Prior to joining Synopsys, Jarzombek served as the Director for Software & Supply Chain Assurance in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office of Cybersecurity and Communications.

During his presentation, Jarzombek will provide details on the types of test tools and services used to determine resilience of products and residual risk exposures attributable to software, and the value proposition for software integrity as an integrating focus for software quality and security. He will also explain how software integrity is an enabler for IoT cybersecurity and how using standards-based automation enables the exchange of information internally and externally with vendors for IoT/ICT products.

Also speaking is Bill Dickenson, Director of Solution Delivery at CAST, a CISQ sponsor. He has worked with C-level executives on business case development, services strategy, program and vendor management, business process re-engineering, outsourcing engagements and implementation approaches. Prior to CAST, Dickenson was an independent consultant with Strategy On The Web and former VP of Application Management Services for IBM, bringing decades of experience in application development, maintenance and integrated operations.

He will co-present “Leverage Software Intelligence to Improve Risk-Based Testing” from 11:15 a.m. –12:15 p.m. on May 24 when he will examine risk-based testing models and discuss overlooked factors that impact their test effectiveness and production stability.

For more information on the keynotes and the QUEST conference 2018, visit http://qaiquest.org/2018/conference-at-a-glance/.

###

About CISQ
The Consortium for Information & Software Quality™ (CISQ™) is an IT industry leadership group comprised of IT executives from the Global 2000, system integrators, outsourced service providers, and software technology vendors committed to introduce a computable metrics standard for measuring software quality and size. Founded by the Object Management Group (OMG) and the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon, CISQ is a neutral, open forum in which customers and suppliers of IT application software can develop an industry-wide agenda of actions for improving IT application quality and reduce cost and risk. CISQ is sponsored by Accenture, Atos, CAST, Huawei, and WIPRO.