SPS Wins Contract to Develop Distributed Engineering Environment

MELBOURNE, Florida, September 25, 1997 -- Software Productivity Solutions, Inc. (SPS) has been awarded a contract entitled, "GEODE: Geographically Distributed System Engineering Environment."

The $70,000 U.S. Navy contract will explore and develop advanced collaboration technologies in which geographically separated personnel can effectively collaborate on complex engineering designs and data. SPS will build on extensive experience gained while designing and implementing its Catalyst product to develop and evaluate the feasibility and potential usefulness of such technologies. Catalyst, an open framework based on CORBA, was designed to improve system engineering productivity. It gives SPS important technology insight and will be used as a test bed for demonstrating collaborative technologies. (Catalyst is currently being developed by SPS for the U.S.A.F. Rome Laboratory.) Program manager John Faure states, "Candidate technologies that will be evaluated or developed include those for synchronous collaboration, such as remote conferencing and remote browsing of engineering data, and those for asynchronous collaboration, such as automated capabilities for correctly and consistently exchanging and maintaining complex engineering models. Many Government and commercial organizations recognize the need for a distributed system engineering environment, such as GEODE, that will enable them to remain competitive into the 21st century."

Additional information about the GEODE effort is available from Tod Hagan, Software Productivity Solutions, Inc., 122 Fourth Ave., Indialantic, FL 32951. Telephone: (407) 984-3370. Fax: (407) 728-3957.