IAR Systems and SCIOPTA announce collaboration to focus on safety-critical applications

Under the agreement between IAR Systems and SCIOPTA Systems each party will sell and support the combination of the SCIOPTA RTOS – a pre-emptive multi-tasking high performance real-time kernel – and IAR Embedded Workbench, which are both well adapted for safety-critical applications.

Many different embedded software applications can be seen as safety-critical, including those used in automotive, rail, avionics, oil refineries, chemical processing plants, nuclear power plants and medical electronics. As these software applications become increasingly complex, the costs associated with the development of embedded software in a safety environment also increase. Independently of whether or not the safety-critical application requires conformance to a certain standard such as IEC 61508, the choice of the right software development tools and the right RTOS will have a significant impact on the life cycle cost of the software application.

IAR Systems tools, including IAR Embedded Workbench, have long been popular for the development of high integrity and safety-critical applications, due to their track record of performance and stability. This reputation is reinforced by a high level of technical support and services that targets the specific needs of these important applications.

SCIOPTA also has a long-standing association with safety-critical applications: its pre-emptive multi-tasking high performance real-time kernel includes many built-in safety features that make it particularly suited to high integrity operation, including direct message passing. SCIOPTA is currently in the final stages of certification by TÜV to the IEC 61508 standard at Safety Integrity Level 3 (SIL3), a qualification that makes it an even more attractive option for developing safety-critical applications.
In addition to the collaboration with SCIOPTA, IAR Systems has released a major upgrade to IAR visualSTATE, its UML-based state machine design tool, which now allows developers to easily read and understand the code it produces. IAR visualSTATE already features advanced verification and validation utilities. State machine design is among the design principles recommended by IEC-61508 and, with the addition of better readability of the code to this feature set, IAR visualSTATE 6.1 has become an even more ideal match for high integrity systems with event driven characteristics.

Roland Lips, CEO of SCIOPTA Systems, commented, “IAR Systems has a reputation of providing highly competent and easy-to-use tools with an intuitive interface. For developers to be able to access our RTOS through this interface, and at the same time utilise the advanced verification capability of IAR visualSTATE, will give them a major advantage when designing safety-critical systems.”

“We particularly welcome this new partnership between IAR Systems and SCIOPTA. I have experience of working on customer projects with both of these companies, and such a close cooperation combined with the benefit of a ‘one-stop shop’ will clearly be a major advantage to customers,” said Rainer Faller of Exida, a US company specializing in the safety and reliability of automation systems.

“SCIOPTA high performance real-time kernel fills in a vital missing piece that will enable IAR Systems to achieve its aim of developing a comprehensive offering for high integrity and safety-critical applications,” commented Anders Flodin, Director Business Development, IAR Systems. “We are very pleased to have forged this close partnership with SCIOPTA.“

The joint marketing agreement between IAR Systems and SCIOPTA Systems will take effect in Q2-2008.