Start-Up

Name: Aberro Software

Location: Rockville

Funding: Angle Technology Ventures provided the company with an undisclosed amount of seed funding. Aberro hopes to raise $3 million to $5 million by the beginning of next year.

Big idea: Aberro has created an automated "script-free" testing program that finds bugs and defects in software. "We've completely eliminated the need for a script or any programming," said chief executive Doug Smith. The company's product scans the application being tested and extracts information from the user interface about what kind of data are contained in each element. "If you picture an e-commerce application where you put your name, address and Zip code, in the first element it's looking for a name input and in the second element it's looking for an address," Smith said. "We'll pick up those control points and the sequence they occur." The software creates an inventory of the application and then tests random data in each control point, feeding it both good and bad data, monitoring the application's response and logging defects. Aberro's testing software can be used early in the development of software, Smith said, because it is more adaptive to major changes than software testing tools that rely on scripts. "Aberro Test adapts to any change in the software because we're constantly scanning the software and looking for changes," Smith said. "The benefit is you find defects earlier, when they're easier and cheaper to fix."

Where the idea was hatched: The company's co-founders, William Rogers, chief technical officer, and Joseph Barta, director of customer service, came up with the approach. "They started with the basic idea that there's got to be a better way to do this," Smith said.

First customer: Bocada in Bellevue, Wash.

Price: $3,999 per license plus annual maintenance and support fees.

Founded: November 2005.

Who's in charge: Smith, Rogers, Barta and Steve Lafferty, vice president of marketing.

Employees: Seven.

Web site: http://www.aberrosoftware.com

What the name means: "Since our product really lets the application tell us what it wants to do, we were looking for a word that would convey that exploration," Smith said. "The root word for 'aberro' means 'to wander'. The idea is you point Aberro at the application and let it wander around and find bugs."

Quote: "Scripting tools are forcing the application to do something. We turn that on its head. We let the application guide the test," Smith said.

-- Andrea Caumont