UML modeling system gets upgrade

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Telelogic AB is positioning the 3.0 release of Tau, a Unified Modeling Language (UML) based development system, as a "breakthrough" that will help bring model-driven development to enterprise IT applications. But the release also has some benefits for embedded systems developers, according to the company.

Over time, Telelogic will position Tau more and more for enterprise IT applications, and position Rhapsody, a UML tool set acquired along with I-Logix, as its solution for embedded developers, said Greg Gorman, vice president of product management for Tau. But Tau still serves a "huge installed base" in the embedded world, especially for telecom applications, he said.

"We're not taking anything out," Gorman said. "Everything they [embedded developers] are used to is still there." Additionally, he said, there are some features on the new 3.0 release that will help embedded developers improve productivity. These include a new user interface that features a Microsoft Office style look and feel, as well as reduced load times.

Gorman also noted that release 3.0 pulls out the requirements profile that was embedded in the Systems Modeling Language (SysML), and makes it available to anyone who does UML modeling. Thus, it's no longer necessary to use SysML to use the requirements profile. Additionally, the 3.0 release lets developers edit and create new requirements inside Tau, and then push them over to Telelogic's Doors requirements traceability tool.

The addition of C# support may benefit embedded developers as well, Gorman said, because some are starting to use that language for front-end development work. The new release also promises more robust integrated development environment (IDE) integrations with Eclipse and .NET environments.

Separately, Telelogic this week is announcing the release of a Rhapsody Autosar pack for the model-driven development of automotive systems and software applications. It claims to be the first such automotive-specific offering to leverage UML and SysML. Autosar was launched in 2003 as an open standard for developing vehicular software, user interfaces, and management.