Author Description

In 2000, total sales of software in the U.S. reached $180 billion. Reducing the cost of software development and improving software quality are important objectives of the U.S. software industry. However, the complexity of the underlying software needed to support the U.S.'s computerized economy is increasing at an alarming rate. Software nonperformance and failure are expensive, but it is difficult to define and measure software quality. The objective of this study is to investigate the economic impact of an inadequate infrastructure for software testing in the U.S. This study was undertaken as part of joint planning between NIST and industry to help identify and assess technical needs that would improve the industry's software testing capabilities. Illustrated.