How Abiomed Accelerated Medical Device Code Reviews With Helix QAC
Abiomed® is a global leader in developing technologies to assist or replace the human heart — one of life’s most critical components. Their products include the AbioCor® Implantable Replacement Heart and the BVS® 5000, which is the most widely-used advanced cardiac assist system approved by the FDA.
Delivering high-quality products (fast) is a must for Abiomed. And they do it with Helix QAC for C and C++.
Helix QAC Helps Abiomed...
Deliver Quality Products (Faster)
Find Coding Errors Earlier
Accelerate Time-to-Trial
Reduce Development Costs
Develop a Reliable Codebase
Educate Developers
"With Helix QAC our prototypes retain much of their integrity, because most defects are caught early. Even as our goals evolve and the code changes, our product quality remains consistently high."
Manual Code Reviews Left Room for Error
There's no room for error in Abiomed's medical device development process. Patient lives and the company’s reputation are at stake. So, high product quality and patient safety are their top priorities.
In the past, Abiomed dedicated many resources to ensuring high quality software. This typically involved manual code reviews, editing, and testing — and basic tools, such as Lint.
Abiomed did achieve high medical device quality. But it came at a cost. Too many resources were required. The manual review process still left room for human error. And developers weren't learning from their mistakes.
They needed a better solution.
Helix QAC Automated Code Reviews
Abiomed began looking for a static code analyzer. They needed to improve their process for delivering reliable code. Thorough, automated code reviews were a must.
They chose Helix QAC.
Helix QAC offered the greatest depth of analysis. And it delivered better diagnostics for potential code improvements.
Higher Medical Device Code Quality (Faster)
Abiomed soon discovered that they could use Helix QAC on a daily — or even hourly — basis in the code development process.
Today, they use Helix QAC to comply with coding standards and detect errors earlier. This allowed them to produce higher quality prototypes. And it helped them maintain consistent quality levels throughout their product lifecycles.
"Helix QAC has given us a much greater comfort level in our development process."
Peter Martin, Director, Electronic Systems at Abiomed
With Helix QAC, Abiomed:
- Saved time in the development process.
- Eliminated rounds of compiling, testing, and prototyping.
- Received detailed error descriptions, which helped developers improve their code-writing skills.
- Reduced software testing costs.
- Increased reliability and confidence in Abiomed products.
"From the beginning, I found Helix QAC’s user interface very helpful and exceptionally useful in how it allows us to review results and explore the data."
Dana Sawyer, Senior Software Developer at Abiomed
Improve Your Code Quality
See how Helix QAC will improve your code quality and automate your code review process.