About Solid Sands

Ensuring safety-critical software is built on a solid foundation

Our Story

Founded in 2014 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

A world built on code
needs Confidence by Design™

Since Amsterdam’s earliest days, its buildings have stood on deep foundation piles – driven through clay and peat to reach solid sand. At Solid Sands, we take the same approach to software reliability.

Founded in 2014 by Marianne Damstra and Marcel Beemster, we set out to ensure that safety-critical software is built on a solid foundation – just like the city itself.

Today, our world isn’t built on bricks – it’s built on code.

Software drives autonomous vehicles, secures railway networks, powers medical robotics, controls aviation, and enables space exploration. Yet software is only as strong as the trust behind it. A single flaw can mean failure – and in safety-critical industries, failure is not an option.

Driven by relentless precision, deep expertise, and an unwavering commitment to quality, we ensure our clients’ safety-critical software is built on a solid foundation.

That’s why we created SuperTest™ and SuperGuard™, the world’s most rigorous compiler validation and library test suites. By eliminating uncertainty and ensuring quality, we give our clients more than just testing tools — we give them Confidence by Design.

“Since early times, houses in Amsterdam have been built on wooden foundation piles that are driven deep into the clay, peat, and water until they reach the first layer of solid sand.”

Our Core Values

Trusted

Look after an environment of honesty, consistency and transparency.

Reliable and ethical behavior in all actions and decisions.

Quality

Maintaining high standards in all aspects of the business to ensure customer satisfaction through continuous improvement.

Pursuing the highest quality in products, services, and performance, while consistently seeking ways to enhance processes and outcomes.

Long-term relationship

Fostering teamwork, open communication, and collaboration across a diverse and inclusive organization, while ensuring goals are met.

Putting customers first and consistently striving to exceed their expectations.

Innovations

Encouraging creativity, continuous learning and improvement and the development of new ideas to stay ahead in the industry.

Our Mission

Ensuring safety-critical software is built on a solid foundation

Our Journey

Unwavering commitment to quality since 2014.

June 2025

SuperGuard Amsterdam version 1.3

Extended the scope and depth of the test suite and requirements database, with added support for new headers from the C and C++ libraries.

March 2025

SuperTest Aelbert Cuyp version 5.1

Improvements Overview

November 2024

Solid Sands 10th Anniversary

Celebrating a decade of safeguarding the C and C++ compiler and standard library

June 2024

SuperGuard Amsterdam version 1.2

165 new test files for additional coverage of the C standard library

April 2024

SuperTest Aelbert Cuyp Release

Press Release

Aelbert Cuyp was one of the great Dutch 17th-century painters; although primarily known for his landscapes, also excelled in portraits and depictions of animals. SuperTest aspires to be versatile like Aelbert Cuyp and can be used with any combination of compiler and target, covering language and library specifications from C89 to C++20.

February 2024

SuperGuard C++ Core

Added a collection of C++ headers to the SuperGuard Library Safety Qualification Suite

May 2023

SuperTest Vermeer Release Update 4

More than 800 new test programs and a significantly enhanced C++ library test suite

December 2022

SuperGuard Amsterdam Release Update 1

Support for all versions of the C standard library 

January 2022

SuperTest Vermeer Release Update 3

Extended by 3000 new tests and support for C++20

December 2021

SuperGuard Amsterdam Release

SuperGuard in Short

We have chosen the name of the Dutch city Amsterdam for this first major release as that is where SuperGuard was born and where it will continue to grow.

June 2021

SuperGuard C Base Introduction

Following a high demand from the market, Solid Sands launches a new product. SuperGuard is a requirements-based test suite for the C standard library to support library qualification.

November 2020

SuperTest Vermeer Release Update 2

More than 2200 new tests, mostly in the C and C++ library suites and much more

February 2020

SuperTest Vermeer Release Update 1

Fully updated calling convention tester, new test suite for C18, SuperTest GUI and more

November 2019

Solid Sands 5 Year Anniversary

May 2019

SuperTest Vermeer Release

Press Release

Johannes Vermeer is known for his photorealistic attention to detail using pigments such as lapis lazuli to create a world more perfect than the real one. It is still a mystery how he was able to achieve the masterly treatment of light and color in his work, since the appreciation of his paintings came only two centuries after his death. SuperTest aims to attain the same perfection as Vermeer, but without the mystery.

October 2018

SuperTest Mondrian Release Update 3

Native Windows tools for SuperTest, section traceability tool, Jenkins integration and more

October 2017

SuperTest Mondrian Release Update 2

C++14 test suite, CGtrainer suite for initial code generator development, size tracking and more

October 2016

SuperTest Mondrian Release Update 1

C11 test suite, extended C99 math library testing and more

January 2016

SuperTest Mondrian Release

Press Release

With this new Release of SuperTest Solid Sands celebrates its Dutch heritage by highlighting one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, Piet Mondrian. Mondrian is known for his clarity and strive for perfection. Solid Sands is motivated to achieve the same level of excellence in SuperTest.

“We are very proud to be the first on the market with a MISRA-C conformance suite”
Marcel Beemster, CTO
Solid Sands

January 2015

SuperTest Rembrandt Release Update 3

New test files for C++11, extended testing of C++ Argument Dependent Lookup and more

November 2014

Solid Sands Starts

Press Release

Solid Sands starts in November 2014 and has its headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Our mission is to put quality into C. We do that by improving the quality of C and C++ compilers, libraries and analysis tools, and their safe and secure use, with the best possible test and validation suite.

1984

SuperTest Started

When SuperTest started, there was only K&R C. As ISO standardization progressed, SuperTest was extended to track the latest developments. We plugged holes in the suite by adding tests for errors not initially found. We created generators to add systematic testing for complex parameter spaces. SuperTest is now the most complete validation suite for C and C++ available.

Ready to Build on a
Solid Foundation?

Contact us today to learn how our solutions can help you
achieve compliance with absolute confidence.

Request a demo Contact Us