Patent ID: 9087308
Filing Date: 2015-07-21
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for developing an asset by competition, comprising: installing and configuring a master software environment for development or testing of a software asset in an online competition; saving a copy of the master software environment as a virtual image suitable for use with a virtual machine in a cloud computing infrastructure; receiving indicia of interest in the online competition for development or testing of the software asset from a plurality of competitors; in response to the receipt of the indicia of interest in the competition, automatically allocating a virtual machine in a cloud computing infrastructure to each of the competitors and configuring the allocated virtual machines with a copy of the virtual image, each virtual machine configured to provide elements of the master software environment to the respective competitor via the virtual image for use in development or testing of the software asset by the respective competitor during the competition; automatically communicating access information for each of the allocated virtual machines in the cloud computing environment to the respective competitors via a communications network, thereby providing the competitors with use of a virtual machine configured with an identical copy of the master software environment for the competition; and upon selecting a winner of the online competition, allocating to the winner a virtual machine configured with the master software environment for building and testing changes required by a reviewer of a winning submission made by the winner during the competition.