Santa Clara, Calif. — (press release) — In a move to significantly lower the barriers embedded developers face when initiating an object-oriented software development project, I-Logix Inc., a provider of enterprise solutions for embedded applications development, today announced Rhapsody Modeler, a free edition of the company's award winning Rhapsody application development environment.

Rhapsody Modeler is the first free, “industrial strength” product of its kind that will allow developers to quickly and easily take advantage of a graphical analysis and design environment based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML). In addition, Rhapsody Modeler provides a seamless upgrade path to the full code generation and validation capabilities available through the other Rhapsody family products. Rhapsody Modeler is available on the Web, here.

VDC forecasts that embedded design starts will increase by 24 percent each year over the next three years and that there will be a need for an almost 50 percent increase in embedded programmers by 2003. This explosive growth is fueled by the reality of Pervasive Computing, which is stimulated by an array of new Web-inspired applications. Previously, advances in chip design enabled new products. Now, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, application software will be the key enabler in the transition to Pervasive Computing.

“Given the unprecedented growth of Pervasive Computing, there simply aren't enough programmers to handle the demand for application software today – much less to meet the growth requirements expected for the future,” said Gene Robinson, president and CEO of I-Logix. “The antiquated sequential and manual development process that embedded programmers have been using for decades is fundamentally broken. By giving developers the opportunity to experience model-based development for free, we believe that they will quickly realize the cost and time savings of this approach and then readily explore how they can benefit from integrating their analysis and design phases with the implementation and test phases featured on other Rhapsody family products. With Rhapsody Modeler, we are effectively kickstarting a new paradigm in embedded applications development.”

Rhapsody Modeler Edition

The Rhapsody product family is designed to provide developers with a range of standards-based UML solutions addressing all phases of the software development process, analysis, design, implementation and test. Designs generated from the Modeler edition of Rhapsody will be fully compatible with other versions of the Rhapsody product family-Developer, Validator, and Solo, upon upgrade.

Rhapsody Modeler offers the same key features and functionality available on other model-based design systems costing thousands of dollars, allowing developers to analyze, design, document and generate code frames for their applications, all in a UML compliant environment. Key features include:

• UML modeling with Object Model Diagrams, Use Cases, Sequence Diagrams, Activity Diagrams and Statecharts to enable clear, standards-based communication across development teams;
  
• Code frame generation for C, C++ and Java to jumpstart software implementation;
  
• Model import from Rational Rose; and
  
• Integration with third party requirements, traceability and configuration management products to leverage existing tool investments.

“I-Logix truly recognizes the significance and the expanded role for application software in the embedded marketplace, and the broad implications this roadblock poses as we progress toward the era of Pervasive Computing,” said Dr. Jerry Krasner, director of CMP's Electronics Market Forecasters. “This bold move will make it easier for developers to take advantage of the key attributes of UML, and help drive the widespread adoption of robust application development platforms like Rhapsody.”

Embedded Linux support strategy

I-Logix recently unveiled its plans to launch a strategic initiative designed to drive the advancement of the Linux market and support the growing demand for Linux-based embedded applications. As part of the company's embedded Linux initiative, I-Logix is partnering its Rhapsody application development platform with a variety of offerings from “best-in-class” Linux RTOS (Real-Time Operating System) software and tools providers. The company will also offer Rhapsody on a host system running Linux. This will result in a number of near-term options for existing and potential developer-customers who want to take advantage of the highly scalable, cost-effective and rapidly evolving Linux open source environment.

About I-Logix Inc.

Founded in 1987, I-Logix is a venture-backed software company that provides enterprise solutions for real-time embedded applications development. I-Logix' solutions significantly compress software development cycles while improving product quality. These products allow engineers to graphically model the behavior and functionality of their embedded systems, analyze and validate the system, and automatically generate production quality code in a variety of languages. I-Logix uniquely integrates and associates the entire design flow from concept to code across an enterprise using both conventional and collaborative Web-enabled technology.

I-Logix is a member of the Object Management Group (OMG), a founding member of the Embedded Linux Consortium, and a founder of the Unified Modeling Language (UML). The company is headquartered in Andover, Mass., and has sales offices and distributors throughout the USA, Europe and the Far East.

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