Esterel Technologies Launches the Aerospace and Defense DO-178C Readiness Program

Esterel Technologies Safety Experts and the SCADE® Product Family Facilitate Preparation for DO-178C Software Development

Elancourt, France & Boston, Massachusetts — 2 March 2010

Esterel Technologies announces the launch of the Aerospace and Defense DO-178C Readiness Program. This program constructed by the Esterel Technologies Safety Team, assists companies in their preparation for development of safety-critical software under the pending DO-178C standard. As part of this program, Esterel Technologies will draw upon its long-term experience and expertise under DO-178B Level A model-based development and verification with SCADE. In addition, with representatives on both the Model-based Development and Verification and the Tools Qualification subcommittees of DO-178C, Esterel Technologies is in a unique process and technology leadership position to properly assess client gaps in DO-178B process and tooling as well as recommend a positive path forward to be in compliance with and leverage the advancements in DO-178C.

As a first step in the launch of the Esterel Technologies Aerospace and Defense DO-178C Readiness Program, Esterel Technologies offers DO-178C Implication and Awareness Sessions to its clients. In these sessions Esterel Technologies will provide an overview of the critical implications of DO-178C initiatives such as model-based development and verification, formal methods, and object-oriented development. In addition to these Implication and Awareness Sessions, Esterel Technologies experts can provide a GAP analysis on current development processes and tools to enable the client to understand the potential impact in transitioning to DO-178C. In the longer term and with the institution of the DO-178C standard, Esterel Technologies plans to engage its partner ecosystem to offer industry standard COTS solutions for DO-178C development, including software tools, hardware, firmware, and services.

As the DO-178 standard continues to evolve and mature, it is important for the aerospace and defense community to understand from application experts what this means to them and how they should prepare for future development. Esterel Technologies is in a unique position to provide this professional guidance and software tooling, said Eric Bantegnie, President and CEO of Esterel Technologies. With success on numerous DO-178 Level A projects such as the Airbus A380 (control and display system, head-up display, braking and steering control, fuel control, etc.), Pratt & Whitney S-76D engine, Dassault Aviation Falcon F7X flight controls, and the Eurocopter EC 225 autopilot. Esterel Technologies can provide real-world experience and expertise. We look forward to this next major milestone in the DO-178 standard development as it is clearly aligned with exactly what we provide in formal model-based development and verification.

With growing acceptance and use of the DO-178 standard, more and more suppliers, particularly in the military aerospace industry, are being required to adhere to DO-178B and in the future will be required to meet DO-178C. In fact, they must do so to remain viable in this highly competitive and risk adverse market. In addition, with the proliferation of Unmanned Air Systems (UASs) and the need for these systems to potentially operate in the civilian airspace, software developers for these vehicles and systems must adhere to the same standards as those who are developing software for manned aircraft. There is no room for error and the DO-178 standard helps protect against software errors. DO-178C will continue to guide the development process for the long-term foreseeable future.

In addition to education and GAP analysis, Esterel Technologies provides webinars, seminars, and a specialized set of handbooks covering DO-178B software development with SCADE Suite® and SCADE Display® for embedded control application engineers and embedded graphics display application engineers, respectively. Furthermore, Certification Kits are available for these products under DO-178B and will be upgraded for the new standard, upon its availability.

About Esterel SCADE

The Esterel SCADE® family of products offers an integrated design and development environment for mission and safety-critical embedded software applications. The core products in the family, SCADE Suite® and SCADE Display® offer graphical design entry, verification through simulation and formal methods, and certified code generation. These products also include integrated requirements management, configuration management, and automatic documentation generation, shortening the time-to-certification. SCADE Suite is the market leading model-based development environment dedicated to mission and safety-critical embedded software.

DO-178B qualified up to level A for Military and Aerospace Industries
IEC 61508 certified up to SIL 3 by TÜV for Heavy Equipment, Automotive and Energy
EN 50128 certified up to SIL 3/4 by TÜV for Rail Transportation
IEC 60880 compliant for Nuclear Energy

SCADE Display is the leading edge embedded graphics design and development environment dedicated to mission and safety-critical display systems in aerospace and defense, industrial, energy, medical, and transportation applications. SCADE Display has been qualified under DO-178B to level A for Military and Aerospace Industries.

About Esterel Technologies

Esterel Technologies is the worldwide leader of model-based design, verification and code generation tools for mission and safety-critical embedded systems.

Esterel Technologies is a privately held company with headquarters in Elancourt, France and U.S. Headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, with direct sales offices in Germany, the United Kingdom, and China.

For additional information, visit the Esterel Technologies website at www.esterel-technologies.com.

Press Contacts:

Gundel Hahn (Europe)

Phone : +49 (0) 89 123 922 04

Email : Gundel.Hahn@esterel-technologies.com

Kara Gremillion (U.S.A)

Phone : 1-781-762-4689

Email : kara.gremillion@esterel-technologies.com

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¹ Within the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), the CEA LIST Institute is dedicated to technological research on software based systems.

SCADE is a registered trademark of Esterel Technologies.
SCADE Suite, SCADE Display, and KCG are trademarks of Esterel Technologies.

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