Atlassian builds Elastic Bamboo

Dubbed Elastic Bamboo, version 2.2 is said to provide instantly scalable capacity to meet the rapidly fluctuating needs of typical development cycles.

Linked gallery: A tour of Atlassian's Sydney HQ

Usually, testers need to scale dedicated hardware servers up or down to compile and test code.

This can present logistical and financial challenges for organisations with several smaller or rapidly evolving teams, especially when utilisation varies, according to CEO and co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.

Bamboo 2.2 is the only continuous integration server with the ability to run distributed builds on-premise, in the cloud using Amazon EC2, or through a combination of the two, Cannon-Brookes said.

"Elasticity gives you on-demand, flexible capacity, so that you only pay for what you need, when you need it," he said.

Continuous integration is a software development methodology that involves more frequent integration of code and generation of builds.

It is one of a number of methodologies that are undertaken to speed up delivery time of software. Others include extreme or agile programming.

Bamboo automatically compiles and tests code as it changes, providing instant feedback for developers and allowing them to collaborate quickly about their builds.

It lets developers spend less time chasing bugs and more time writing higher quality code, said Cannon-Brookes.

In addition, Bamboo 2.2 has new features that notify selected users and groups when a comment is posted against a build or when builds are hung so appropriate steps can be taken to keep builds on track.

It also has customisation enhancements and "over 80 fixes and improvements", the company said.

Atlassian is based in Sydney and has operations in San Francisco and the Netherlands.