Closure on Agitar: McCabe picks up their Java unit-test assets

If you’re looking for AgitarOne, you can get it from McCabe Software.

Agitar essentially went out of business in May, as has been discussed in a couple of previous posts, “Agitar is having a going-out-of-business sale” (May 12) and “Agitar: The market’s not big enough” (May 20).

Several of Agitar’s competitors, beginning with Instantiations and Parasoft, jumped in to offer a migration strategy for nervous Agitar customers. That was a good opportunity for both those companies and those wondering whether their unit-test tools would survive.

However, as reported earlier this month in SD Times, McCabe Software has acquired Agitar’s assets. As reporter David Worthington wrote,

McCabe announced the acquisition yesterday and vowed to provide a smooth transition, with Agitar customers receiving uninterrupted customer service and product support… McCabe’s flagship products are McCabe IQ and McCabe CM, solutions that, on one hand, report on code complexity and quality, and on the other, manage and track the application life cycle.

This is good news for Agitar customers. McCabe’s press release said,

McCabe Software announced today that they have acquired substantially all of the assets of Mountain View, CA based Agitar Software, Inc., makers of award-winning software test automation solutions. McCabe’s and Agitar’s tools are used by sophisticated developers and testers at Fortune 500 companies, and by leading defense, aerospace, and technology companies around the globe.

“Agitar has won a multitude of industry and technology awards over the years and the company has a passionate following in the marketplace, particularly in agile development circles,” says David Belhumeur, McCabe’s CEO. “McCabe has always kept on eye on Agitar because our products are complementary and we have many customers in common. With our 30+ year track record, McCabe is the perfect home for Agitar, whose customers will continue to enjoy uninterrupted product support, customer service, and innovative engineering, enhanced by the resources that McCabe Software brings to the table.”

“Agitar’s and McCabe’s customers have a strong need to develop bug free software and a thirst for world class tools to reduce costs and improve quality”, says Ken Pereira, McCabe’s President, “and there is a consensus in the industry that the Agitar technology successfully delivers on those goals in both the traditional and agile software development arenas.”

The Agitar technology is the result of over $35 million of investment by the previous owners who decided in April to place Agitar in a trust so that a transaction such as this acquisition could be consummated to drive the company forward in a non venture-funded environment.

“We have the good fortune of acquiring not only industry-leading, cutting edge technology but also acquiring the experience and expertise of existing Agitar personnel. They know the market quite well, have an exhaustive understanding of the technology, and an unmatched ability to support it,” says Dale Brenneman, McCabe’s VP of Technology.