(PRWEB) December 13, 2005 -- QA Labs, the largest independent software quality assurance and testing service provider in Canada, has acquired 30 percent of Critical Systems Labs Inc. Critical Systems Labs is a systems engineering company that provides expertise in the development of safety-critical, software-intensive systems for industries including aerospace, automotive, medical technology, emergency management, nuclear energy and defense. With the acquisition of 30 percent of Critical Systems Labs, QA Labs now adds safety-critical software testing to its wide range of software testing services.

“Acquiring a portion of Critical Systems Labs means that QA Labs can now add critical safety software testing to its existing portfolio, which already includes testing for medical devices, corporate IT, wireless and interactive media,” said Wolfgang Strigel, President of QA Labs. “Once a project is scoped by Critical Systems Labs, we will perform the test effort. We can also use Critical Systems Labs’ expertise to review the results of testing to assess residual safety risks for clients.”

Founder of Critical Systems Labs, Dr. Jeff Joyce, is one of the world’s leading experts in hazard identification and analysis, hazard-driven exploratory safety testing and safety engineering methodologies and techniques. With a growing number of industries that use IT to manage critical systems, such as emergency management, the demand for experts who can both examine and test critical systems software is on the rise. Other examples of critical systems include air traffic control software, applications that run automobiles and software in medical devices.

“Critical Systems Labs is delighted to partner with QA Labs,” said Joyce. “We are pleased to be associated with QA Labs because it has a solid reputation as a quality testing outsourcing company and because the two companies can now take advantage of existing customers, partners and industry connections to grow both businesses.”

About QA Labs Inc.
QA Labs Inc. is the largest independent software quality assurance and testing service provider in Canada, and is an international authority in the software industry providing contract testing, test automation, and test planning services, as well as QA process consulting and training. QA Labs Inc. helps clients make wise choices that reflect project constraints, industry trends and business considerations, leading to the critical competitive advantage needed today. For more information, please visit www.qalabs.com.

About Critical Systems Inc.
Critical Systems Labs Inc. is a systems engineering company established to provide clients with expertise in the development of safety-critical, software-intensive systems for industries including aerospace, automotive, medical technology, energy management, nuclear energy and defense. As a division of QA Labs, Critical Systems Inc. and QA Labs together offer planning, assessment and testing for safety-critical IT systems. www.criticalsystemslabs.com