Adam Kolawa
Encyclopedia
Adam Kazimierz Kolawa was CEO and co-founder of Parasoft
, a software company in Monrovia, CA that makes software development tools. Recognized by eWeek
as one of the 100 Most Influential People in IT, Kolawa wrote three books on software development and published hundreds of articles in publications such as The Wall Street Journal
, Computerworld
, SD Times, and Dr. Dobb's Journal
.
in 1981 and a M.Sc. in Physics from Jagiellonian University
in 1982. After Kolawa emigrated from Poland to the United States, he earned a Ph.D in Theoretical Physics from the California Institute of Technology
. While at Caltech, he worked with Geoffrey Fox and helped design and implement the Intel hypercube parallel computer
known as the Cosmic Cube
.
In 1987, he founded Parasoft with four friends from Caltech. Initially, the company focused on parallel processing technologies. Kolawa transitioned the company from a parallel processing system producer, to a software development tool producer, to a provider of
software solutions and services that help organizations deliver better business applications faster by establishing quality as a continuous process throughout the software development life cycle.
Kolawa's latest major publication is The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know About Information Technology (John Wiley & Sons, January 2009). This book discusses how two "quantum leaps" can occur when IT is properly understood and properly managed. The first quantum leap describes the radical improvement in the productivity of individual programmers and programmer teams when they build software the proper way. The second quantum leap describes a radical improvement in the productivity of the entire enterprise that can arise, with proper executive action, after the first leap has occurred.
Previously, Kolawa co-authored two books on software development and written or contributed to articles in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CIO, ComputerWorld, and Dr. Dobb's Journal.
In 2007, eWeek recognized Kolawa as one of the 100 Most Influential People in IT. In 2001, Kolawa was awarded the Los Angeles Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Software category.
Kolawa was granted 20 patents for software technologies he has invented. His patents include runtime memory error detection technology (Patent 5,842,019 and 5,581,696 - granted in 1998), statically analyzing source code quality using rules (Patent 5,860,011 - granted in 1999), and automated unit test case generation technology (Patent 5,761,408 and 5,784,553 - granted in 1998).
Kolawa died suddenly on April 26, 2011.
Parasoft
Parasoft is an independent software vendor with headquarters in Monrovia, California. It was founded in 1987 by five graduates of the California Institute of Technology who had been working on Caltech Cosmic Cube....
, a software company in Monrovia, CA that makes software development tools. Recognized by eWeek
EWeek
eWeek is a weekly computing business magazine published by Ziff Davis Enterprise.The magazine consists of a print publication and web site covering enterprise topics and is targeted at IT professionals rather than hobbyists.-Audience:The eWeek audience is actively involved in buying enterprise...
as one of the 100 Most Influential People in IT, Kolawa wrote three books on software development and published hundreds of articles in publications such as The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, Computerworld
Computerworld
Computerworld is an IT magazine that provides information for senior IT leaders. It is published in many countries around the world under the same or similar names. Its publisher is International Data Group. Computerworld serves the needs of IT management via print and online...
, SD Times, and Dr. Dobb's Journal
Dr. Dobb's Journal
Dr. Dobb's Journal was a monthly journal published in the United States by CMP Technology. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. DDJ was the first regular periodical focused on microcomputer software, rather than hardware. It later became a monthly section within the periodical...
.
History
Kolawa received a M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Science and TechnologyAGH University of Science and Technology
AGH University of Science and Technology is the second largest technical university in Poland, located in Kraków. The university was established in 1919, and was formerly known as the University of Mining and Metallurgy...
in 1981 and a M.Sc. in Physics from Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
in 1982. After Kolawa emigrated from Poland to the United States, he earned a Ph.D in Theoretical Physics from the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
. While at Caltech, he worked with Geoffrey Fox and helped design and implement the Intel hypercube parallel computer
Parallel computing
Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently . There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level,...
known as the Cosmic Cube
Caltech Cosmic Cube
The Caltech Cosmic Cube was a parallel computer, developed by Charles Seitz and Geoffrey Fox from 1981 onward.It was an early attempt to capitalise on VLSI to speed up scientific calculations at a reasonable cost...
.
In 1987, he founded Parasoft with four friends from Caltech. Initially, the company focused on parallel processing technologies. Kolawa transitioned the company from a parallel processing system producer, to a software development tool producer, to a provider of
software solutions and services that help organizations deliver better business applications faster by establishing quality as a continuous process throughout the software development life cycle.
Kolawa's latest major publication is The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know About Information Technology (John Wiley & Sons, January 2009). This book discusses how two "quantum leaps" can occur when IT is properly understood and properly managed. The first quantum leap describes the radical improvement in the productivity of individual programmers and programmer teams when they build software the proper way. The second quantum leap describes a radical improvement in the productivity of the entire enterprise that can arise, with proper executive action, after the first leap has occurred.
Previously, Kolawa co-authored two books on software development and written or contributed to articles in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CIO, ComputerWorld, and Dr. Dobb's Journal.
In 2007, eWeek recognized Kolawa as one of the 100 Most Influential People in IT. In 2001, Kolawa was awarded the Los Angeles Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Software category.
Kolawa was granted 20 patents for software technologies he has invented. His patents include runtime memory error detection technology (Patent 5,842,019 and 5,581,696 - granted in 1998), statically analyzing source code quality using rules (Patent 5,860,011 - granted in 1999), and automated unit test case generation technology (Patent 5,761,408 and 5,784,553 - granted in 1998).
Kolawa died suddenly on April 26, 2011.
Selected Articles
- "Rethinking Software" Forbes, July, 2009
- "How to Fix The Productivity Problem That's Killing the Software Industry" CIO, March, 2009
- "How Better Software Can Save the World" CIO, October, 2008
- "The Future of Quality Lies in Productivity " SDTimes, May, 2008
- "Building Security into Software with Security Policies & Static Analysis " SDTimes, February, 2008
- "Want to Automate Regression Testing? Get Development and QA in Sync" STP, January, 2008
- "Software Development: Then and Now" DDJ, December 2007
- "SOA Best Practices: Four Steps to Securing Your Web Services" SOA World, April 17, 2007
- "Strategies for overlapping the development of embedded systems software and hardware" ECN, April 9, 2007
- "Security as a Requirements Issue" SD Times, March 1, 2007
- "BPEL in a Service-Oriented Architecture" DM Review, June 2006
- "Choosing the Best Testing Tools to Increase Project Productivity" SOA World December 27, 2005
- "Hold the Line Against Application Attacks" Software Test and Performance November, 2005
- "Java Application Security in the Corporate World" JDJ, June 13, 2005
- "Prevention's The Cure" Software Development, August 1, 2004
- "Four Ways to Increase Productivity", SD Times, Nov. 15, 2010