Snowflake Software has launched its Early Access Programme to customers and product evaluators alike, kicking off with an early access version of its upcoming GO Publisher WFS 2.0 product.

The programme has been initiated by Snowflake to provide customers with advanced access to product releases before they are commercially ready. The Early Access versions will be available to download from the Snowflake Support website as they are released, with the first on offer being the GO Publisher WFS 2.0 – featuring the implementation of the new OGC web feature service standard, a necessity for INSPIRE compliance.

Customers are able to benefit from the technical advancements in the Early Access versions and use them within their own test and development environments to gain leading edge, technical and competitive advantage. Additionally, customers can provide more input into developing the Snowflake product suite, by providing feedback and suggestions for new features and enhancements.

Eddie Curtis, CTO and Product Manager commented:
“We operate the Scrum Agile software development process, which means that every two weeks we create a new build of the products we are currently working on. Customers can expect frequent updates and availability of Early Access versions.”

He continued:
“Whilst we’ve launched the Early Access Programme with the release of GO Publisher WFS 2.0, we are currently developing new features for GO Loader, including schema packs and projects to support the full OS Open Data product suite. The Early Access Programme will cover the full Snowflake product suite.”

Quality Assurance

The capability to provide an Early Access Programme comes not only from Snowflakes’ continuing technical developments, but also because of the investment in quality.

Whilst the Early Access products are not yet commercially ready, they are rigorously tested by the Pre-Sales teams, as well as passing several fundamental quality assurance processes during the development stage, including continuous integration, automated unit and regression testing, and static code analysis.

Joining the Early Access Programme

For more information about the Early Access Programme please visit the website: http://www.snowflakesoftware.com/earlyaccess/ .

New Early Access releases will be announced on the Snowflake Technical Blog (http://www.snowflakesoftware.com/news/techieNews.htm) and via Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/sflakesoftware). Anyone who would like to download the latest Early Access should visit the Snowflake Support website (http://www.snowflakesoftware.com/support/) or contact the team at: mailto:support@snowflakesoftware.com .