Need for independent software testing companies

I read an old article recently on independent software testing. It was in about the Indian testing market but much of it related to the UK software testing market as well.

Need for Independent Software Testing Companies

You can't let a fox guard the henhouse. How often have we heard developers say "It works on my machine, you must be doing something wrong!" to dismiss reported defects? According to Arindum Basu, VP and head of Independent Testing Practice, Kanbay, the rigor, incisiveness and `nothing is holy belief' ensures that defects are trapped before they hit the clients. Sharad Sharma, vice president, product operations, Veritas Software India says, "the need of independent software testing firms is required by the market space".
Independent testing brings many advantages to companies, asserts V Chandrashekaran, CEO, Aztec Software and Technology Services. For one, it brings in objectivity, rigor and transparency to the testing and defect reporting process. In the process, companies can also gain time-to-market by outsourcing parallel activities in the product life cycle development. Most importantly, it provides checks and balances against the development team by being the 'eyes and ears' of the end-user/client. Aztec Software and Technology Services recently acquired Disha Technologies-a software product testing company.
India has around 8 to 10 independent software testing firms. SNS Technologies, for instance, has focused purely on product testing since 1989. Managing director Ashish Shah has big plans for his company. His company hopes to touch the 250 people mark by 2005, and is targeting the UK market this year.

For the full article visit: http://www.dqindia.com/content/special/2005/105012501.asp