Technology Professional Quality Assurance hopes to increase revenues to $25 million by 2010

Professional Quality Assurance is poised to double its revenues every year for the next three. The Fredericton-based software testing firm reported $3.8 million in revenues last year, with plans to approach $7 million in 2007. The company's 2010 target would draw $25 million.

Big plans for a startup launched just 11 years ago, but the information technology market is hungry for testing systems that can ensure new products are released on time and at peak performance.

In fact, Professional Quality Assurance dominates a market with little competition. Most competitors are full-service IT companies, with small quality assurance divisions. But as word spreads increasingly about the New Brunswick firm's ability to carry out this critical component of software development, more work comes its way.

"We have a piece of business that is rapidly growing and gaining more and more ground," said company president Keith McIntosh.

"Software development is an immature process; it's only been around for 30 years, and the first thing they did was work on methodologies for development. Now, we're seeing much more emphasis being placed on quality."

On average, it takes one unit to fix a defect in design. At the pre-release stage, it takes 100 units, and after release it takes 1,000 units. That's time and money.

Professional Quality Assurance employs both manual and automated testing methods for software and web-based programs. About one quarter of its business is focused on e-learning quality assurance, which involves creating content, screening it for accuracy and consistency and testing the web-based programs with users.

The firm's main focus is on testing software, typically before the product is released to market. Its automated testing tools, including off-the-shelf programs from Hewlett Packard and other vendors, place stressors on new products - the load of 1,000 users on a network, for example - and monitor their performance.

"We've done work from embedded systems in elevators to Apple porting to their new Intel board; from e-learning to finance and health care," said McIntosh. "The skill sets, on the human resources side, that are required for quality assurance are attention to detail and problem solving."

As Professional Quality Assurance looks to boost its revenues, it plans to network with existing clients and, through them, identify new ones. The company is also expected to bring greater focus to the Atlantic Canadian market.

"We have a client base that stretches from Ireland to Australia. In Toronto, we work with the national bank, CIBC, Apple. Part of our strategy is to leverage that client base," said McIntosh. "The second step is with the Atlantic provinces, raising our profile and making sure we're known in Halifax."