As traditional ALM providers work to keep up with software development trends toward agile processes, AccuRev has an edge. Already building process flexibility into its own tools, the company has entered into reseller agreements with Rally Software and Urbancode to bring agile to ALM.

Launching what it’s calling the first fully integrated best-of-breed tool set for agile development, AccuRev on Tuesday released its AgileCycle Suite for Agile ALM. AccuRev Enterprise’s software configuration management product is at the core of the suite, which also includes Rally’s Enterprise project management software, and Urbancode’s AnthillPro build and release management tool.

The suite offers software developers a way to work on short iterations, make changes to those iterations midstream, and continue productivity by managing tasks and resources. AccuRev built flexibility around process models because the idea is to make your own process work, said Cliff Utstein, vice president of marketing at AccuRev. “It helps you be as agile as you want to be,” he added.

The suite, which licenses for US$2,695 per perpetual license with the first year of support and maintenance included, also pares down and optimizes the software development process by handling multi-stage continuous integration with refactoring support. Each tool in the suite is language-independent, so it can be used to equal advantage by development teams working in C# or Java, said Utstein.

“They’re [AccuRev] responding to the overall trend,” said Jeffrey Hammond, a Forrester Research analyst. “Over a third of [development] shops use agile processes.”

According to Hammond, AccuRev is also using well-regarded tools in the suite, which puts them in a group with other leading Agile ALM solutions, including those from IBM, Microsoft and Serena.

SCM is provided by AccuRev’s AccuWork, which includes defect and issue tracking with workflow. Rally handles the requirements needed for the stories that make up agile development, eliminating the need for “heavyweight, up-front requirements” like those created under waterfall processes, said Utstein. AnthillPro handles the continuous integration.

For testing, Utstein said AccuRev integrates with third-party tools, such as HP Quality Center. “We didn’t bundle [test tools] with the suite because we wanted to be agnostic.”