With the exponential growth of software complexity, to keep the cost and time of critical embedded application development under control, a continuous testing infrastructure is a must have feature.

Not only should software tests be run early and automatically each time a developer pushes a new code commit in the system, but tests should also be run in a virtualized environment because developers typically never get enough physical board to test from. Nevertheless we should keep enough real hardware in the loop to limit virtualization/reality deviation and ensure developers can transparently move test from virtualization to the real world.

This presentation shows how virtualization can ensure early code integration to reduce development/testing cycle, while at the same time keeping track with real hardware to ensure that application is also running correctly on the final production device. Then it gives feedback on the different challenges Iot.bzh faced while deploying its continuous tests infrastructure. Finally it focuses on the way virtualization and real targets can be combined to offer developers a complete and efficient CI infrastructure.