Wind River Accelerates Device Software Optimization in Aerospace and Defense; Unveils Updated Product Versions, Services and Partnerships to Help A&D Customers Optimize Software Development
- Furthers Wind River's position as leading DSO provider to aerospace and defense market
- Announces availability of Wind River Platform Safety Critical 2.0, dramatically lowering cost for Integrated Modular Avionics designs; announces roadmap for MILS security platform; extends Wind River General Purpose Platform, VxWorks Edition
- Launches Aerospace and Defense Field Operations and Aerospace and Defense Device Services Practice, industry's first and only comprehensive services offering tailored for optimizing A&D device software development
- Announces key customer wins and strong ecosystem support
PARIS and ALAMEDA, CA. — PARIS AIR SHOW -- June 13, 2005 — Wind River Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:WIND), the global leader in Device Software Optimization (DSO), today announced its strategy to revolutionize the way aerospace and defense (A&D) manufacturers optimize their device software development and create next-generation applications with more interoperability, safety, security and connectivity. At this week’s Paris Air Show, Wind River announced the availability of Wind River Platform Safety Critical 2.0, a fully integrated commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) platform that enables the development of safety critical, standards-based, integrated modular avionics applications faster, better and at dramatically reduced cost. Also announced today, Wind River further extended its safety and security critical technology portfolio with its commitment to support Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) architecture for high assurance security critical applications.
Additionally, Wind River announced the launch of Wind River Aerospace and Defense Field Operations, created to work closely with end customers and agencies and with industry leading global A&D companies to provide solutions to address their needs locally. As part of the A&D Field Operations, the company also announced the Wind River Aerospace and Defense Device Services Practice, a set of industry-specific services that combines Wind River's 20-plus years of experience with device software development to bring its comprehensive set of proven best practices to A&D customers. Today’s announcements demonstrate Wind River’s continued dedication to providing solutions that enable A&D manufacturers to quickly and easily optimize their development processes, thereby driving costs down and dramatically accelerating innovation.
“The cost of innovation in the aerospace and defense community can be exorbitant without an effective development process in place,” said Theresa Lanowitz, research director, Gartner Research. “In order to curb costs, aerospace and defense manufacturers must consider the benefits of adopting standards and commercial off-the-shelf solutions. Device software solutions optimize the development process and ensure reliability and safety that lower development cost and allow standardization on choice.”
The A&D industry is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. A&D devices have ever escalating requirements for increased connectivity and reliability, coupled with decreasing size, weight, and power consumption. Connected, highly safe and secure A&D devices have become a necessity; seamless communication must happen from desktops at headquarters to ships at sea, aircraft, vehicles and soldiers on the front lines. This transformation requires that all armed forces and the devices they employ be interoperable, reliable, reusable, secure and safe, yet the process for developing these devices must remain cost effective and provide flexibility through openness and support for standards. Only Wind River provides a platform solution that is responsive and reliable enough to create such devices.
Wind River Platform Safety Critical 2.0 and Wind River General Purpose Platform, VxWorks Edition
Wind River A&D platforms provide a seamless product portfolio across the entire spectrum of A&D applications. They are equally suited to address the safety and security needs of mission critical applications and the portability and reusability needs of non-critical applications. Today, Wind River announced a major upgrade with Wind River Platform Safety Critical 2.0 for safety critical applications and recently announced updates to Wind River General Purpose Platform, VxWorks Edition for non-critical applications. Key features and benefits of Wind River Platform Safety Critical 2.0 include:
- Industry leading development suite: Wind River Workbench 2.3 brings an open unifying, framework that provides seamless integration of third party tools designed to meet specific developer needs and support multiple target operating systems including VxWorks, VxWorks ARINC 653, Linux and ThreadX.
- First of its kind configuration tool suite: XML-based tool suite to configure all runtime objects provides for the independent development, testing, certification and re-certification of individual applications in an Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA) system, delivering a plug-and-play approach that supports the roles of platform provider, system integrator, and applications developer, and dramatically reduces initial development and certification time and cost and later cost-of-change.
- ARINC 653 API conformance: Through strong support of open standards such as ARINC 653 in the Wind River runtime platform, customers can standardize on choice — and therefore reduce associated costs, increase time to market for avionics devices and ultimately focus their efforts on innovation versus integration.
Multiple Independent Levels of Security
Wind River also announced an extended roadmap for Wind River Platform Safety Critical that provides Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS), meaning the environment is capable of housing and processing data at varying security levels. The MILS environment also provides for secure partitioning, which gives customers the flexibility to add middleware or applications at a later date, with minimum impact analysis and re-certification efforts. By standardizing on Wind River Platforms, customers gain the flexibility of developing on a single development suite across projects — ranging from non-critical projects without safety or security certification requirements to the highest levels of safety and security certification, such as DO-178B Level A and Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 6+ (high robustness) or 7.
Wind River Aerospace and Defense Device Services Practice
The Wind River Platform Safety Critical and the Wind River General Purpose Platform, VxWorks Edition are further complemented by the Wind River Aerospace and Defense Device Services Practice, which provides A&D device manufacturers expert outsourcing and consulting services, specifically designed to speed new product introduction while minimizing development cost.
- Software system and middleware integration: Extends the platform to include customized functionality and third party middleware technology.
- Legacy application and infrastructure migration: Port to and validate legacy software systems with new platforms.
- Platform extensions: Customized operating system implementations meeting ARINC 653 industry specifications.
- Process compliance: DO178B certification of Board Support Packages (BSPs) across the range of documented compliance levels.
- Industry expertise: Fully qualified Federal Aviation Administration Designated Engineering Representatives (DER) on staff.
- Industrial-strength delivery: Skilled project management methodology based on the Project Management Book of Knowledge from the Project Management Institute.
Real-time best practices: Industry experts with extensive aerospace & defense device software expertise and demonstrable project successes ensure your successful product development.
“The aerospace and defense market is under a massive transformation. Manufacturers are suddenly realizing they need to take a radically different approach to how they develop intelligent devices that don’t break the bank,” said Rob Hoffman, program director, aerospace and defense field operations, Wind River. “At Wind River, we strive to make the development process easier and less costly — greater innovation does not necessarily have to lead to greater development costs. With Wind River Platform Safety Critical 2.0, manufacturers get the foremost commercial off-the-shelf solution that addresses their safety, security, interoperability and connectivity needs.”
DSO Ecosystem
Wind River's A&D customers and partners are embracing DSO. Today, two leading A&D providers and manufacturers announced expanded relationships with Wind River. Wind River customers and partners are participating in this week’s Paris Air Show and will demonstrate how a DSO strategy streamlined their device development process. Details on all of today’s customer and partner news can be found at
http://www.windriver.com/news/press/2005.html:
- Wind River Device Software Optimization Technology Flying at the Heart of the Boeing KC-767A Tanker Aircraft’s Integrated Modular Avionics Design
- BAE SYSTEMS Selects Wind River for Use in the Tornado Advanced Radar Display Information System - TARDIS
Strong Partner Support for Wind River Platforms
Wind River boasts partnerships with many of the industry’s leading software and hardware technology providers, which affords customers the choices they need to be successful in a highly competitive and crowded market. Partners have expressed resounding support for Wind River’s success in the aerospace & defense space and for Wind River Platform Safety Critical 2.0:
“In a continued effort to provide customers with extremely reliable tools and software, AdaCore and Wind River remain closely aligned in developing technology solutions for the aerospace and defense market,” said Franco Gasperoni, managing director, AdaCore Europe. “By working with Wind River as a trusted partner, we can come together and develop solutions for top-rate aerospace programs, such as the Boeing KC-767A tanker aircraft and Dreamliner.”
"Wind River and Curtiss-Wright Controls have a long-standing relationship providing solutions for real-time harsh environment systems integrators," said Tom Quinly, president, Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing. "We continue to collaborate with Wind River because they have shown strong commitment to serving the aerospace and defense community."
“The combination of Thales’ system management solutions and turn-key hardware platforms along with Wind River’s software and tools technologies provides systems integrators and OEMs the key elements necessary to run their mission-critical applications,” said Alain Albarello, CEO of Thales Computers. “Based on our past and current successes in working with Wind River, we look forward to collaborating on future developments and solutions.”
“Seaweed Systems has been collaborating closely with Wind River since 1993, providing high-performance embedded graphics solutions that integrate tightly with Wind River’s own products in the aerospace and defense market,” said Phil Cole, vice president, Sales & Marketing, Seaweed Systems. “In 2002, Wind River and Seaweed Systems began integrating our respective certifiable products, and several high-profile programs are already making use of our integrated solutions on numerous different hardware platforms. Ongoing close cooperation with Wind River as its products continue to evolve remains a key element of Seaweed Systems’ product strategy.”
"As the leader in real-time, embedded and high-performance communications middleware, Objective Interface has a long history of supporting Wind River's entire range of products. We are actively working with Wind River to su
About Wind River
Wind River is the global leader in device software optimization (DSO). Wind River enables companies to develop and run device software faster, better, at a lower cost and more reliably. Wind River Platforms are pre-integrated, fully standardized enterprise-wide development solutions. They reduce effort, cost and risk, and optimize quality and reliability at all phases of the device software development process from concept to deployed product.
Founded in 1981, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, California, with operations worldwide. To learn more, visit Wind River at http://www.windriver.com or call Wind River at 1-800-872-4977.
The Wind River logo is a trademark of Wind River Systems, Inc., and Wind River and VxWorks are registered trademarks of Wind River Systems, Inc. Other marks used herein are the property of the respective owners.
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Jessica Miller
Global Corporate Communications
