Case Study: World’s Largest PC Vendor Service Provider (Dell) achieves faster Agile sprints and earlier defect detection with Parasoft Service Virtualization

Using Service Virtualization and Cloud-Based Test Environments to Increase Agile Velocity While Controlling Defects

Dell’s enterprise software division, responsible for roughly 200 applications including integrations with a multibillion-dollar sales portal, needed faster, realistic test environments so each user story could be validated within two-week Agile sprints. Complex dependencies, third‑party systems, evolving services, and the need for specific test data and performance conditions made it difficult to exercise end‑to‑end transactions early and often, and limited environment access slowed development and defect discovery.

The team combined Microsoft Azure DevTest (scaled and automated via VSTS) with Parasoft Service Virtualization to create 500+ virtual service assets and automatically provision disposable, isolated “bubbles” for each user story. This on‑demand infrastructure lets teams test continuously against complete environments, increasing sprint predictability and velocity while improving quality — moving from only 30% of defects found in the delivery pipeline to the vast majority detected and fixed before a story is marked done.