ABeam Consulting Shanghai GDC Achieves CMMI Level 5

Shanghai, China – April 20, 2009—ABeam Consulting, a global provider of operational consulting services, announced today that on March 31, 2009 its Global Development Center (GDC) in Shanghai was awarded Maturity Level 5, the highest rating in the Software Engineering Institute’s¹ (SEI) Capability Maturity Model Integration² (CMMI) continuous process improvement model. This rating means that ABeam GDC Shanghai has achieved best-in-class status for the design, development and maintenance of software systems for its clients, with a proven focus on continually improving process performance through both incremental and innovative technological changes and improvements.

The rating was achieved after a rigorous assessment conducted by a lead appraiser acknowledged by SEI. The assessment included a rigorous review of such factors as the appropriateness and practicality of software design plans, reviews of successfully developed systems, training and the storage of data and documentation.

“The CMMI ML5 rating demonstrates that ABeam GDC is a mature and world-class software development organization, which implements globally recognized best practices in the software engineering field,” said Mr. Seiji Takahashi, Principal of Process and Technology at ABeam Consulting. “The CMMI ML5’s goal of 'Continuous Process Improvement' dovetails into ABeam’s own adoption of the Japanese ‘Kaizen’ management philosophy, which considers the whole and individual components of a process, problem or organization when enabling ongoing and incremental change.”

With the aim of acquiring ML5 status since its founding in 2004, ABeam GDC Shanghai has continually strived to improve the quality of its development processes, establishing a team of specialists called the Process Management Group. This team formulated the ABeam Quality Management System (AQMS) methodology, and achieved CMMI ML3 in September 2006. This was followed by the recent CMMI ML5 rating within a mere two years.

Continued Mr. Takahashi, “This achievement validates the mission of ABeam GDC, which is a total commitment to delivering the most competitive, high-quality and cost-effective software solutions and services to our clients.”

About ABeam Consulting
ABeam Consulting provides business transformation services that create strategic advantage, improve business processes, leverage technology innovation, and enhance organizational performance for leading multinational and domestic companies worldwide. ABeam partners with clients to diagnose and solve their real challenges with solutions that combine industry and operational best practices with technical expertise. Pragmatic approaches ensure that clients gain measurable value more quickly. Headquartered in Tokyo, ABeam’s 3,800 professionals serve 700 clients in 21 countries. For more information, please visit http://www.abeam.com.

¹ The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense and operated by Carnegie Mellon University. SEI ratings are earned through a detailed evaluation process that includes an extensive review and analysis of engineering and software development processes. You can find more information at http://www.sei.cmu.edu.

² Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is an industry-recognized standard for benchmarking process integration and improvement in software engineering process disciplines, developed by Software Engineering Institute.