The package delivery company has commissioned the university to research a number of topics pertaining to the matter, through the FedEx Institute of Technology program at the school. The testing project, called the Systems Testing Excellence Program (STEP) could result in the largest testing organization in the country.

Specifically, FedEx seeks methodologies to make testing processes shorter while ensuring that applications are high-quality. Current testing practices are basically the same as they were in the 1980s, said Dave Miller, vice president of information technology at FedEx. Code is written and then turned over to unit testing; testers look for defects and send that detail back to the development team, Miller said. Determinations are made on whether an issue actually is a defect or requirements shortcoming.

"We sort of believe that testing as a discipline has probably not kept up pace," with other areas of IT, Miller said.

FedEx's focus is on testing of large, complex, integrated software systems, on both mainframe and distributed systems.

"We want to make sure we're in the forefront of the testing space," Miller said.