Global Sourcing of Software Development - A Review of Tools and Services

Software services in a globally distributed environment face significant management challenges. All phases of the software life-cycle need to be aligned to the distributed development environment. This challenge has been led to the development of a variety of tools and services. This paper identifies tools and services aiming at the optimisation of the globally distributed software development. Software-as-a-service seems to be a promising approach to optimise the globally distributed software development. The characteristics and advantages of software-as-a-service in regards to globally distributed software development are discussed. The paper concludes with a closing discussion of the identified tools and services.