Reliability in software reliability engineering refers to the ability to operate failure-free.
According to IEEE, software reliability engineering (SRE) is focused on engineering techniques for developing and maintaining software systems whose reliability can be quantitatively evaluated.
More specifically, software reliability engineering is defined as the probability of a product to operate free of failures for a specified period of time under specified operating conditions. Reliability is a quality attribute that is highly valued by customers and users of products and services.
Organizations, engineers and consumers need a consistent definition of reliability between software, hardware and systems. This is so they may be combined to determine the reliability of a product or service as a whole delivered to a user.
However, there are differences between hardware and software that affect how we analyze their respective reliabilities. Software reliability engineering assesses how well software-based products and services meet users’ operational needs. SRE uses quantitative methods based on reliability measures to do this assessment.
The benefits of effective software reliability engineering are considerable. Take throughput and production. Downtime for any reason reduces the system’s throughput, but downtime can be minimized by applying predictive and preventative maintenance programs.
A well-maintained system minimizes operating expenses and maximizes throughput.
Some products require a run-in or burn-in to identify and eliminate early life failures or to refine and optimize system operation. Using reliability engineering techniques organizations can minimize the time and resource impact of run-in or burn-in operations.
Eliminating or minimizing time, we reduce inventory carrying costs, tooling costs, and energy requirements.
There’s also a distribution benefit. Fewer failures and optimized maintenance implies fewer spare parts in the logistics system.
This minimizes the distribution system costs for transportation, logistics, and storage for spare parts. This also minimizes service labor costs.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Software Reliability Engineering Training, a 3-day course that is intended to provide attendees with critical knowledge and skills applied to software reliability and software reliability engineering on real world projects. This course focuses on proactive principles and methods to predict software reliability before the coding is started.
Software Reliability Engineering Training teaches you how to design and develop reliable software, reliability verification and testing of the software systems.
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