IBM Simplifies Systems Software Development

Mechatronics product development is a big buzzword withinmany engineering circles. At IBM, there's a whole lot of talk (along with asmattering of television commercials) about what's involved in engineeringsmarter products. Regardless of how you classify this new generation ofproducts, there's no doubt that software is an essential ingredient, and IBM's Rational Softwaredivision has extended its portfolio in three areas to create a richerenvironment for developing and managing these new types of software-focused,smarter offerings.

In the enhancements, the IBM division is aiming to boost theagility of companies to innovate by delivering a set of tools that helpestablish governance around requirements, foster collaboration among globally-dispersedteams and create an enterprise architecture view of system interdependencies,according to Greg Sikes, IBM Rational's director of enterprise architecture andsystems modeling. "You don't have to look far even around your house to seewhat's happening," Sikes says. "It used to be that innovation came from puremechanical advances like smaller or lighter components - now we're seeinginnovation come more through software."

To that end, Rational is offering a new version of its SystemArchitect that is integrated with Rational Focal Point, a solution thatprovides analysis and decision support capabilities to help organizationsexecute the right projects at the right time. The upgraded DOORSWeb Access V1.3 requirements management tool has been redesigned with alightweight browser interface, allowing participants located anywhere in theworld to sit in and collaborate on requirements planning sessions. The newversion also allows more users to concurrently access up-to-date requirements,while enabling teams to easily create traceability links to track and viewrequirements changes.

Finally, Rational Software's Rhapsody visualdevelopment environment has been enhanced with improved integration with therest of the Rational software portfolio along with support for automotiveindustry standards through AUTOSAR concept-to-code workflow.