Ford Motor Company has announced a three-year collaboration with Pivotal Software Inc. in which the automaker’s developers will work side-by-side with experts from Pivotal, allowing Ford to bring software from idea to reality in mere weeks rather than months in some cases.
Ford’s new SYNC Connect software, debuting on the forthcoming 2017 Ford Escape, will benifit directly from this collaboration with Pivotal Software. SYNC Connect is essentially Ford’s answer to General Motors’ OnStar “Remote Link,” allowing vehicle owners to access some status and functions remotely through a mobile app. Users can lock and unlock doors, schedule vehicle starts, check on fuel and oil levels, and locate where the vehicle is parked through the app.
Pivotal Software Inc. brands itself as a “trusted partner for IT innovation and digital transformation,” essentially building a business of helping other companies hone and streamline their software development methods. The company’s “Cloud Foundry” serves as a reliable, full-fledged platform for other companies to build on, taking away the need to expend any resources on IT infrastructure.
Said Pivotal Software President and CEO Bill Cook: “Typically, it took Ford months to develop software. At the outset of working with Pivotal, Ford engineers started producing compelling software in a matter of weeks. Since mastering Pivotal Labs’ cutting-edge, agile software development methodologies, Ford now is operating at start-up speeds – able to create software in mere days.”
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