GE Working to Bring Air Traffic Management into “The Cloud”

Press release:

18 September 2012

GE Working to Bring Air Traffic Management into “The Cloud”

 

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GE researchers working with NASA to enable NextGen air traffic management to be operated through cloud computing

Will transform the way air traffic is managed

Project part of GE’s global software initiative to build the “Industrial Internet”

NISKAYUNA, NY, September 18, 2012 – A global leader in avionics and software development, the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) has embarked on an 18-month project with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to help bring NextGen air traffic management (ATM) technology into “The Cloud.” Cloud computing will enable airlines and air traffic controllers to perform their tasks by sharing not only real-time information but also data analysis and decision support tools to improve aircraft operations and airspace efficiency.

Cloud computing is computing that allows a user to tap into a remote location where data storage and computational capabilities are virtually limitless. It already is revolutionizing how information storage and business operations are managed on the ground but has been slower to progress in the aviation sector, especially in safety critical areas such as the ATM arena.

Today, homeowners can use cloud computing to store music, photos, videos and other files in a remote, secure place. If the hard drive on their home computers fails, the information stored in the cloud will not be compromised. Beyond common applications in the home, you are beginning to see more prevalent use of cloud computing in everyday business operations. For example, commercial airlines already are beginning to replace their data centers with cloud computing, which is saving them millions of dollars in capital and maintenance costs.

GE’s program with NASA will identify opportunities within ATM that can benefit from cloud computing.

Liling Ren, electrical engineer and project leader from GE Global Research, “Cloud computing has the potential to fundamentally change how air traffic management operates today. With the transition to it, airlines, pilots, and air traffic controllers will be able to achieve increased information exchange, sharing of decision support automation capabilities that tell them more accurately and reliably about a plane’s current position and future flight path. This will enable them to improve traffic flow and plan more preferable routes and altitudes, which ultimately means more predictable and efficient travel that is on-time for passengers.”

A key program objective is to explore how air traffic controllers, airlines and aircraft can interact more efficiently in a cloud computing environment. Today ATM functionalities and capabilities are developed and hosted separately by each of these entities. The expectation is that this project can help accelerate the transition of NextGen ATM technology, which traditionally would take years or even over a decade to complete.

The effort to bring cloud computing to air traffic management is part of GE’s efforts to build the Industrial Internet. The Industrial Internet represents the next evolution in product development, creating a living network of intelligent machines and systems that allows customers to realize new heights of efficiency and performance in their operations.

In November 2011, GE announced an aggressive expansion of its software programs to harness big data and take industrial product development to the next level. The company has opened a global software headquarters in San Ramon, California, which will employ 400 new software professionals to support these efforts across GE’s business portfolio.

GE researchers will combine its growing capabilities in software with deeply embedded experience in aviation and avionics to revolutionize air traffic management. GE is a key avionics integrator, offering Flight Management System (FMS) capabilities to the world’s most widely operated commercial fleets.

About GE Global Research

GE Global Research is the hub of technology development for all of GE's businesses. Our scientists and engineers redefine what’s possible, drive growth for our businesses and find answers to some of the world’s toughest problems.

We innovate 24 hours a day, with sites in Niskayuna, New York; San Ramon, California; Bangalore, India; Shanghai, China; Munich, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Visit GE Global Research on the web atwww.ge.com/research. Connect with our technologists athttp://edisonsdesk.com and http://twitter.com/edisonsdesk.

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Press release:

BMC Software Acquires VaraLogix to Fuel Fast Application Deployment

BMC extends its leadership in DevOps via Enhanced Application Release Automation

HOUSTON, August 8, 2012 – BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) today announced it has acquired VaraLogix, a proven application release automation provider. With this acquisition, BMC is expanding its DevOps portfolio to make it easier for IT to more quickly and efficiently deliver cutting-edge applications with fewer outages, lower risk and higher return on investment.

The volume of software applications and updates continues to grow exponentially, promising new capabilities that can put a company ahead of its competition. However, deploying applications continues to present major challenges to companies of all sizes. The implications are enormous, because failed deployments can wreak havoc in terms of cost and efficiency. 

Traditionally, application deployments have been plagued with complex technical issues that result in deployment errors and failures. Often times, advanced application specialists are required throughout the deployment process, taking them away from their priority duty of building new, differentiated applications. The combination of BMC and VaraLogix technologies provides an abstraction layer that allows IT teams to deploy applications regardless of programming experience.

“We intend to implement VaraLogix Q to create a flexible and fast environment, allowing us to release changes to our production environments on a timely, efficient basis,” said James Obukhovsky, IT director, Infrastructure and Operations for Wet Seal, Inc. “We will seek to use this technology to impact our customer experience and sales in a positive manner.”

VaraLogix is the only solution specifically built to automate business-critical, multi-tier application deployment and configuration management. It will be integrated into the new BMC Release Lifecycle Management offering that will deliver:

·         Improvements in process management for continuous integration and delivery

·         Intelligent packaging for multi-technology, multi-tier applications

·         Open deployment management leveraging existing automation agents

·         Basic environment management for correct application configurations

“BMC has always had an innovative, intelligent approach to DevOps. By making visible what was previously invisible in the complex application release process, our technology gives customers an unprecedented ability to define, implement, monitor, assess and continually improve the application release process in an agile way,” said BMC’s John J. Balena, general manager, DevOps Solutions. “With today’s announcement, we are advancing our application automation suite and addressing an acute industry need for application release automation that works at the speed of today’s business.”

For more information about BMC and VaraLogix, please visit:

·         BMC Application Performance Management

·         Follow BMC on Twitter

Business Runs on IT. IT Runs on BMC Software.

Business runs better when IT runs at its best. That's why more than 20,000 IT organizations – from the Global 100 to the smallest businesses – in over 120 countries rely on BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) to manage their business services and applications across distributed, mainframe, virtual and cloud environments. With the leading Business Service Management platform, Cloud Management, and the industry’s broadest choice of IT management solutions, BMC helps customers cut costs, reduce risk and achieve business objectives. For the four fiscal quarters ended June 30, 2012, BMC revenue was approximately $2.2 billion.

Oracle Announces Next Generation of Oracle® Health Sciences Clinical Development Analytics

Note to visitors: The Palo-Negro-Blog is no longer being actively maintained.  For more up-to-date news and information, please visit the successor blogs:  http://JBK-BizTech.blogspot.com and http://JBK-Current-Events.blogspot.com

Oracle Announces Next Generation of Oracle® Health Sciences Clinical Development Analytics

New Features Expand Visibility into Clinical Programs to Help Increase Productivity and Clinical Effectiveness while Helping to Reduce Costs

DIA Annual EuroMeeting, Copenhagen, Denmark – March 27, 2012

News Facts

Focused on helping health sciences organizations increase the productivity and effectiveness of their product development programs, Oracle Health Sciences today introduced the newest version of Oracle® Health Sciences Clinical Development Analytics.

Driven by input from industry partners, the comprehensive business intelligence application includes new functionality that expands visibility into clinical programs and studies, improves the quality and timeliness of clinical trial data and helps to simplify and prioritize the rapidly expanding responsibilities of study managers, clinical data managers, and site monitors.

The enhanced solution helps to increase resource utilization by delivering advanced dashboards specifically tailored to clinical trial roles. It features expanded drill-down functionality and key performance indicators that identify areas requiring action or attention, such as targeting underperforming sites.

The solution enables organizations to merge data from multiple clinical trial sources, providing a unified view across operational systems on a single screen. New de-duplication technology supports reports that combine both clinical operations and data management information to monitor enrollment progress, optimize productivity at site visits and help to reduce monitoring-related travel expenses.

Oracle Health Sciences Clinical Development Analytics also delivers visibility across the entire portfolio of clinical trials, which enables greater insight into subject recruitment and site performance to empower managers and clinical monitors to better target resources to key sites which will help accelerate trial completion.

With more than 100 pre-built reports and over 500 pre-built measurements and attributes for custom reporting, Oracle Health Sciences Clinical Development Analytics can provide immediate business benefit out of the box, while providing an extensible framework for adding additional metrics aligned to targeted business processes.

• To enable anytime, anywhere access, the solution can be used in conjunction with Oracle Business Intelligence Mobile application for Apple iPhone and iPad to give mobile users access to the latest performance management information.

Supporting Quote

“Clinical trial sponsors and their CRO partners, navigating increasingly complex and lengthy development cycles, are intently focused on improving data quality and clinical program productivity while reducing costs,” said Neil de Crescenzo, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Health Sciences. “The newest version of Oracle Health Sciences Clinical Development Analytics, which features integrated content, expanded dashboards, and optimized reporting, delivers the insight that study sponsors, managers, and monitors require to achieve these goals and accelerate the delivery of new products to the market.”

Supporting Resources

Oracle in Health Sciences

Follow Oracle Health Sciences on Twitter

Join the Oracle Health Sciences Community on Facebook

Oracle Health Sciences on YouTube

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center.  For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

About Oracle in Industries

Oracle industry solutions leverage the company’s best-in-class portfolio of products to address complex business processes relevant to health sciences, helping speed time to market, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge.

Trademark

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Microsoft and Nokia to Invest Up to 18 Million Euros in Mobile Application Development Program at Aalto University

News Press Release
Microsoft and Nokia to Invest Up to 18 Million Euros in Mobile Application Development Program at Aalto University

Mobile developers to benefit from funding, training, support and business opportunities as Microsoft and Nokia launch the AppCampus program at Aalto University.

inShare15

HELSINKI, Finland — March 26, 2012 — To drive innovation and business opportunities in Finland’s mobile ecosystem and beyond, Microsoft Corp. and Nokia will each invest up to 9 million euros into a newly established mobile application development program at Aalto University during the next three years. The AppCampus program has been set up to foster the creation of innovative mobile applications for the Windows Phone ecosystem and in addition, Nokia platforms, including Symbian and Series 40, to create a new generation of self-sustaining mobile startups. Kicking off in May 2012, the Finland-based program will be led and managed by Aalto University, which has a growing reputation as a hotbed of new startup companies. AppCampus is intended to attract thousands of application proposals from students and entrepreneurs from all over the world. Aalto University will make a significant contribution to the project by providing premises, coaching services, and access to both academic and business networks for budding app developers. Within the AppCampus program, mobile entrepreneurs can benefit from comprehensive support, training in mobile technology, design and usability, and funding to create innovative new mobile apps and services. Windows Phone Marketplace and Nokia Store offer local and global business opportunities to program participants via distribution to consumers around the world. Mentored by veterans in the mobile industry, program participants will be given insights and business coaching to help them commercialize their ideas while retaining the full intellectual property rights for their innovations. “The ICT industry and knowledge base in Finland is one of the most competitive in the world, particularly in the mobile technology field,” said Jyrki Katainen, Finnish prime minister, at the launch event for the AppCampus program in Helsinki. “Finland is an early-adopter market, and the significance of national education and technology innovation is deeply rooted in our culture. As a result, there is a growing appetite for entrepreneurship among the younger generation at Aalto University and beyond. The partnership between Microsoft and Nokia is a critical investment in this growing ecosystem and represents an exciting opportunity and access to global markets for our local startup community.” “AppCampus offers an unprecedented opportunity for entrepreneurs to put their ideas into practice and create world-class mobile products,” said Klaus Holse, president, Microsoft Western Europe. “We want to turn a new leaf in the mobile industry and foster Finland’s role as a center of excellence for mobile technology. Such investment into early-stage concepts has rarely been seen in this sector, and this demonstrates how highly both Nokia and Microsoft value Finnish mobile expertise.” “We are proud to announce this new program, which will enable new and existing developers to create next-generation mobile apps and unique user experiences,” said Kai Öistämö, executive vice president, Nokia Corp. “The partnership will allow developers to ideate and monetize business opportunities globally, via both Windows Phone Marketplace and Nokia Store.” “An essential part of Aalto University’s mission is to strengthen Finland’s competitiveness,” said Tuula Teeri, president of Aalto University. “We are pleased to host this initiative, which concretely boosts utilization of new knowledge and skills in creation of new entrepreneurial ventures.” “Through our technology transfer and Aalto Venture Garage activities, the Aalto University community has been able to help catalyze the creation and growth of more than 30 companies during the past two years, with a number of them having mobile applications,” said Will Cardwell, head of the Aalto University Center for Entrepreneurship, which will be charged with managing the program. “The people and ideas we work with hail from all corners of the world, and our partnership with Microsoft and Nokia will further strengthen our global network. This program will provide a unique opportunity to turn application ideas into real business with the support of world-class partners and coaches.” “Within our student community, we have a strong mission to boost entrepreneurship and to create more startups,” said Teemu Tapanila, a board member of the Aalto Entrepreneurship Society and leader of the Windows Phone Aalto community. “We warmly welcome the opportunities and networks brought by this cooperation.” On the AppCampus Program Mobile entrepreneurs can apply for grants within the AppCampus program beginning in May 2012. More information can be found at http://appcampus.aalto.fi. About Nokia Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia’s technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world. For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia. About the Aalto University Center for Entrepreneurship The Aalto Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE) at Aalto University, Finland, offers innovation, commercialization, and start-up services for Aalto University researchers, students and other stakeholders. In addition, we facilitate innovation and growth entrepreneurship by co-creating research and education of these areas across all the Aalto schools. ACE partially funds and participates in the award-winning Aalto Venture Garage and Startup Sauna open source seed accelerator. For more information, visit www.aalto.fi and http://ace.aalto.fi. About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise their full potential. About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft employs more than 16,000 people in over 64 subsidiaries, delivering products and services in more than 139 countries and territories.

Synopsys Unveils Virtualizer Development Kits to Accelerate Software Development for ARM big.LITTLE Processing

Synopsys Unveils Virtualizer Development Kits to Accelerate Software Development for ARM big.LITTLE Processing

VDK Family Delivers Fast Software Bring-Up and Better Debug Control for Quad-Core ARM® Cortex™-A15 MPCore™ Processor and ARM big.LITTLE™ Processing-Based Designs

Mar 21, 2012

Highlights:

• VDKs are software development tools integrating fast, functional models of specific multicore systems, multicore software debugging/analysis tools and reference software stacks
• Software development up to 12 months before board availability
• Out-of-the-box support for Linux, Android and multicore task migration software to speed software development for ARM big.LITTLE processing
• Plug-n-play integration with software debuggers from ARM, Lauterbach and GNU
• Multicore/multicluster software analysis capabilities to best utilize big.LITTLE processing performance and energy efficiency capabilities
• Configurable Cortex processor subsystem, customizable by adding other system components

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP used in the design, verification and manufacture of electronic components and systems, today announced the first release of the Virtualizer™ Development Kit (VDK) Family for accelerating software development. The VDK Family for ARM Cortex Processors contains multiple reference designs, analysis and debug software tools for the Cortex-A15 MPCore processor and ARM big.LITTLE processing. By using the VDKs developers can now optimize for performance and energy efficiency prior to board availability. The reference designs can easily be customized for device specific requirements using Synopsys' Virtualizer solution.
"Synopsys' virtual prototyping technology has helped us accelerate software development before with great results, as we were able to demonstrate with the OMAP5430 processor," said Vincent Verfaillie, development platforms and tools manager, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). "We continue to use their VDK solution to deliver the capabilities we need for early software development and a fast ramp up with our big.LITTLE processing platform."
Increased Software Control and Visibility
The visibility and controllability offered by the Synopsys VDK for big.LITTLE processing-based designs enable debug and analysis capabilities that allow software developers to optimize big.LITTLE processing-based designs for performance and energy-efficiency. Using Synopsys' VDK, developers for innovative mobile and consumer devices can optimize their code based on realistic end user experiences as well as minimize software/hardware integration issues. The VDK offers developers the ability to optimize Linux, Android and big.LITTLE power management using record and replay of real world scenarios.
"As companies are adopting our big.LITTLE processing to enable both next generation performance and energy-efficiency for smart, connected devices, ARM and its partners have paved the way by encouraging a strong ecosystem," said Jim Nicholas, vice president of marketing, processor division, ARM. "By offering the VDK Family for ARM Cortex Processors, supporting our Cortex-A15 MPCore and big.LITTLE processing, Synopsys is able to offer this partner ecosystem a highly effective solution for early software development and help facilitate innovation."

Pre-configured for Android, Linux and big.LITTLE Processing
The VDK Family for ARM Cortex Processors comes pre-configured for Linux (Vanilla 2.6.38) and Android (Gingerbread 2.3.4) operating systems (OS) as a starting point for developing actual device software. In addition, the VDK Family is pre-configured for the multicore task migration software layer between the big.LITTLE processing cluster, which includes ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore and Cortex-A7 MPCore processors, and the client OS. This layer dynamically migrates the software between the processors for performance and power optimization. The VDK allows developers to take advantage of this new layer and provides support for debugging and optimizing the software running on multicore hardware like big.LITTLE processing. These VDKs include common interfaces and peripherals such as: USB3.0, Ethernet, UART, LCD, keyboard, battery, memory, and more.
 "Synopsys' first VDK family empowers customers like Texas Instruments to take full advantage of ARM's latest processing technology and reduce time-to-market for their next- generation products," said John Koeter, vice president of marketing for IP and systems at Synopsys. "Synopsys' VDKs targeted for big.LITTLE processing and Cortex-A15 processor-based designs provide software developers with the necessary tools to optimize software much earlier in their project development cycle."
Availability
The VDK Family for ARM Cortex Processors will be generally available in the second quarter of calendar year 2012.
For more information about Synopsys' Virtualizer Development Kit Family, including compatibility with ARM tools and popular software debuggers, please visit: www.synopsys.com/VDK4big-LITTLE.

Yazaki North America Selects PTC as Its Software Systems Solution for Electronic Instrumentation

Press Releases

Yazaki North America Selects PTC as Its Software Systems Solution for Electronic Instrumentation

NEEDHAM, Mass., March 19, 2012 - PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) today announced Yazaki North America, Inc., a Tier 1 automotive supplier, has selected PTC as the software systems platform for its electronic instrumentation. 

Software and electronics cost in a vehicle

In today's highly competitive automotive industry, software is quickly becoming an important differentiator as automobiles increasingly include advanced instrumentation and high-definition displays. The business research firm Frost and Sullivan estimates that cars will require 200 million to 300 million lines of software code in the near future. As a global supplier of vehicle power and data solutions, Yazaki recognized the increased significance and volume of software in its products and realized that the complexity of its product development processes could not be effectively managed with the current infrastructure.  The company recognized the value of a solution that enables global software development collaboration and code reuse.

"Yazaki chose PTC's Integrity software because it offers a single software engineering platform that can manage process complexity and support strategic quality, compliance, collaboration, and release readiness initiatives," said Larry Engelhardt, senior product manager electronics and instrumentation business unit, Yazaki North America. 

Integrity integrates well with Yazaki's other product lifecycle management applications.  Key to Yazaki's decision was PTC's commitment and certification of Integrity for developing safety related systems in ISO 26262 compliant development processes, an automotive safety mandate that requires safety-related embedded systems to qualify the tool chain being used to produce these systems. 

Continues Engelhardt, "Yazaki products depend on the quality of the software that drives them.  PTC's Integrity enables us to better manage the increasing complexities of electronic instrumentation. With this integrated approach we are able to quickly make better design decisions so we can rapidly deliver innovative new products to our automotive customers." 

"Yazaki is one of many automotive customers using Integrity as the platform for the collaborative integrated development of software systems," said Andrew Wertkin, chief technology officer, PTC. "PTC understands that successful management of embedded systems can provide a strategic business advantage for manufacturers. We look forward to working with Yazaki to drive greater value to its automotive OEM customers using this technology." 

Additional Resources

• Automotive business challenges (web site)
• PTC Integrity resource center (web site)
• PTC's Product Information Lifecycle Management (PLM) Resource Center(web site)
• Tech-Clarity Perspective: Developing Software-Intensive Products (Tech-Clarity Report)
• Embedded Software - The Future of Innovation in Tomorrow's Products(Aberdeen Research Report)
• Gartner Predicts 2012: Product Design and Life Cycle Management (Gartner Research Report) 

About Yazaki Yazaki Corporation is a global leader in the research, development and delivery of vehicle power and data solutions for vehicle applications. Yazaki produces electrical distribution systems, vehicle information products, solid-state power centers, connection systems and electronics. Worldwide, the company employs nearly 200,000 people in 39 countries. Yazaki has been committed to the preservation of the environment for over 70 years. The company continues this commitment today through the development of advanced electric components for hybrid electric vehicles, the promotion of recycling and the efficient use of resources. For more information about Yazaki North America, Inc. and its vision for a greener tomorrow, log onto www.yazaki-na.com. 

About PTC PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC) enables manufacturers to achieve maximum value from their product strategies with software and services that optimize key business processes throughout the entire product lifecycle - from conception and design to sourcing and service. The company's integral solution portfolio unleashes product innovation, improves collaboration and ensures product data integrity within engineering and across the enterprise, supply chain and service partner networks. Founded in 1985, PTC employs nearly 6,000 professionals serving more than 27,000 customers worldwide.  More information can be found at www.ptc.com. 

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