Continuous Integration (CI) is a software development methodology that uses small and frequent incremental changes to the code base, which are incorporated into a rapid build and test environment. Each change integrated into the source repository is verified by the...
PDM/PLM-Product Data and Lifecycle Management
Macs in a Corporate IT Environment
Macs running OS X have been around for quite some time, but only recently have they gained enough traction with our customers at SPK to be used as their day to day desktop environment. Historically, IT organizations have been reluctant to embrace this change. This...
4 Hardware Recommendations when Using VMs as a Product Development Tool
These days, there is no practical obstacle to using machine virtualization to solve computing problems without the need of acquiring additional hardware. In fact, virtual machines are a compelling product development tool. There are a variety of virtualization tools...
10 Pitfalls That Can Impact VMWare Performance
Ensuring servers provide consistent performance is a primary goal for all infrastructure management services . A large portion of our servers are in a virtualized environment, and the additional complexity involved there can present some challenging performance...
5 Reasons You Want Your PLM in the Cloud
Put it in the cloud. You’ve heard this catch phrase over and over again, more so in recent years with the proliferation of online technologies and services. As more and more PLM software vendors choose to move their application to the cloud, should you consider moving...
The Convergence of ALM and PLM in the Technology Industry
As more and more technology is embedded into products, and software continues its role as the primary driver for product innovation, the domains of application lifecycle management (ALM) and product lifecycle management (PLM) are being placed on an inevitable...
Agile Development in Regulated Environments Part 2: Key Practices
In Agile Development in Regulated Environments -- Part 1: Yes, it can work, I covered the common misconceptions about Agile Software Development -- specifically in highly-regulated industries like medical device. The common myth that regulators would not accept Agile...
In the Trenches: How IT Outsourcing Makes Life Easier for R&D Engineers
Earlier this month we posted the second blog in a series on how IT outsourcing can deliver multiple benefits to organizations. This post will delve into the benefits to R&D Engineers. Engineers fear disruption to the organization, potential loss of jobs (including...
Adapting Application Lifecycle Management to DevOps
Does the new trend towards DevOps threaten the integrity of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM)? The very nature of DevOps, which bridges the gap between development and operations through increased communication and continuous development cycles, would at first...
Enhancing Electric Commander Build Processes by Creating Dynamic Job Steps
In a simple, straight-forward implementation of a continuous integration pipeline you would typically create a chain of procedures that perform the same set of operations on the supplied input. This provides a build process that is well-defined, repeatable,...
Podcast: Peter Thorne Discusses Hot Trends in Product Lifecycle Engineering Tools
SPK and Associates co-founder Chris McHale speaks with Peter Thorne, director at Cambashi, a Cambridge, England-based independent industry analyst firm. With his over 30 years of experience as a software engineer user, vendor, and now analyst, Peter's in a great...
Integrity to Windchill Integration: A Product Demo
In a previous blog article I discussed, at a high level, the Integrity to Windchill integration for PTC Integrity Lifecycle Manager. Now that we have seen some of the context of how the Integration is supposed to work, I thought it would be a good idea to actually...