CAST launches integrated marketplace for software intelligence

CAST today unveiled the CAST Highlight Extensions Marketplace, a fully integrated platform that allows users to browse and download a diverse array of extensions and plugins effortlessly. This new feature aims to significantly amplify CAST Highlight's capabilities, enabling faster and more specific insights across application portfolios.

The introduction of these add-ons enables IT leaders to personalise their control tower capabilities, providing them with more concrete data to steer and report on critical strategic objectives such as cloud adoption, technical debt management, compliance, cost efficiencies, and sustainability.

The CAST Highlight Extensions Marketplace offers various categories of extensions, including:

• Third-Party Plugins: Users can now connect CAST Highlight data and functions to popular third-party products like Azure DevOps, GitHub, Jira, BitBucket, and VS Code.
• Custom Indicators: Create custom metrics in a CAST Highlight instance with a single click.
• Keyword Configurations: You can configure the keyword analyser in CAST Highlight to detect and report on custom elements, such as the Java version in use.
• Segmentation Configurations: Build personalised Portfolio Advisor dashboards to complement the standard offerings, such as the Portfolio Advisor for Cloud or the Portfolio Advisor for Open Source.

This suite of capabilities is designed to be flexible, allowing users to search and filter available extensions to find the tools that best suit their needs. Though all current extensions are developed and published by CAST, there are plans to continuously expand the range of available extensions. This ensures that the marketplace remains an essential resource for users seeking to enhance their application portfolio governance and software observability.

Greg Rivera, Vice President of CAST Highlight, commented on the launch: "This new marketplace represents the next step in our vision to offer software intelligence solutions that are not only powerful but also adaptable to the specific needs of our users. With the ease of integration of these new capabilities, we aim to make it as easy as possible for clients to maximise their investment in CAST Highlight."

Following its recent number-one rating on G2 for software bill of materials (SBOM) management, CAST also introduced compatibility with the CycloneDX 1.5 SBOM format. This enhancement will improve software component management and strengthen security and compliance measures. The move aligns with industry best practices for SBOM management, reaffirming CAST's proactive commitment to software security and compliance.