Borland Plans Visual Studio AddBorland Plans Visual Studio Add

Borland Software Corp. will bring out a version of its CaliberRM requirements-management tool that works inside Visual Studio 2005 Team System shortly after Microsoft launches the new, collaborative toolset in the second half of the year.

The Borland addition will make the high end of the Visual Studio 2005 line more competitive with tools that already include software-requirements management, such as Telelogic AB's Doors or IBM Rational Software's RequisitePro. In a fashion similar to leading Java tool vendors, Microsoft's Team System will relate a software system's requirements to other steps of the development process, including models, source files, or test plans, says Marc Brown, director of product management at Borland.

Existing versions of CaliberRM can be used to capture requirements at the start of a software project and then import them into existing versions of Microsoft tools, such as Visual Studio Version 6 or Visual Studio 2003 Standard Edition or Professional Edition. But the upcoming CaliberRM for Team System will be more tightly integrated with the Microsoft tools.

By purchasing a CaliberRM Team System license from Borland, customers will be able to activate CaliberRM inside the Visual Studio user interface. Developers can use the Visual Studio Team Explorer browser to get to a listing of CaliberRM requirements or use the Visual Studio's main navigation toolbar to reach a requirements view presented by CaliberRM.

This is the second Borland-Microsoft collaboration to fill a hole in the Microsoft lineup in two months. In April, Borland said its Together 2005 for Visual Studio .Net Designer and Together 2005 for Visual Studio .Net Developer would support UML 2.0 modeling for the Microsoft .Net line of languages. In the case of CaliberRM in particular, it reflects an effort by Microsoft to bring its .Net tools into line with the same capabilities offered by Java tools working in the Eclipse open-source programmer's workbench.

CaliberRM for Team System will be priced at $2,000 per developer and is set to ship early next year.