LDRA and Visure’s Joint Release of Embed-X Selected for Editor’s Choice Award

Embed-X, the first end-to-end application lifecycle management (ALM) solution targeting the critical software space, integrates the entire software development process from requirements through application design, code, analysis, verification and testing. Accelerating software complexity has ballooned development costs and exponentially increased software risk. According to Forrester, avionics and defense projects commonly experience schedule and budget overruns by a factor of two and deliver only 60% of the expected functionality. LDRA and Visure Solutions believe that Embed-X will enable companies to manage development processes, mitigate risk, and reduce costs by as much as 50%.

While Embed-X can be used to improve any complex application development, it reaps immediate benefits in the critical software space thanks to its integration of DO-178B, MISRA, CERT-C, and the Homeland Security Agency’s Common Weakness Enumerations (CWE). Now requirements for standards such as DO-178B are dynamically traced through all stages of development, ensuring that each requirement is mapped to specific code that is tested and verified and that all code written correlates with project specifications. Embed-X is the only ALM solution ensuring complete traceability through verification.
“Many DoD programs involve at least 10 years of development, tracking data from a large number of vendors using a plethora of development tools, and must comply with numerous military and safety-critical requirements,” noted Chris Ciufo, Group Editorial Director, Military and Aerospace Group, OpenSystems Media. “Unfortunately, far too many companies still attempt to manage this kind of multidimensional matrix with only an Excel spreadsheet. LDRA and Visure Solutions offer an ALM management tool that merges product requirements, business objectives and metrics into certification support for DO-178B. That’s a significant leap forward for many DoD developers.”

“For the first time, software developers will be able to manage the micro-detail fundamental to embedded applications,” noted Baldo Rincón, Managing Director of Visure Solutions. “Embed-X shares requirements and system components and creates an open forum between software developers and engineers taking care of mechanical and electrical details. Because of bidirectional Lifecycle Traceability, requirements are no longer isolated in repositories, but dynamically updated throughout the system.”

“With Boeing and Airbus identifying the cost of correcting errors found in first flight as 900 times more expensive than if the errors had been found earlier, we believe it is essential to deliver a solution that manages the development process, identifying errors as early as possible, providing requirements traceability at all times and bridging communication barriers through process transparency,” stated Ian Hennell, LDRA Operations Director. “Embed-X is the first ALM solution that not only offers a comprehensive solution across all stages of development, but also addresses the complexity of multiple architectures, development tools, real-time operating systems and safety-critical standards.”

Knowing the cost-sensitivity of the embedded market, LDRA and Visure has eased adoption by providing a target license package that incorporates customization and training. Common interfaces seamlessly link the various stages of Embed-X to provide a uniform product GUI. Now, instead of dealing with individual tools for project planning, requirements engineering, change management, product and certification documentation and verification, these activities are synchronized by Embed-X across the embedded project team.