CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

24 March 2009

Product News

Eurostep Develops Software for STEP AP233 with a Beta Release of the AP233 Toolbox for the Java Platform

The AP233 Toolbox is ideally suited for creating interfaces to legacy systems within the domain of Systems Engineering (SE), thus making seamless import and export of SE data possible. The Toolbox from Eurostep provides an environment which enables rapid development and deployment of ISO 10303-233 based applications and interfaces. The Toolbox provides functionality which significantly reduces the time taken to develop and deploy AP233 implementations such as data importers and exporters that are of a high quality, highly efficient, and conformant to the standard.

“While STEP started out with the exchange of CAD files it has enjoyed much success in recently developed PLM areas such as Product Life Cycle Support (PLCS) and Systems Engineering. These are areas with a large number of software vendors as well as in-house systems. Until now, it is areas where exchange and sharing of data is less developed than within CAD”, says Håkan Kårdén, CEO Eurostep Group. “We see much interest in our Toolboxes these days, for PLCS, AP233 and IFC. We are committed to bring software to the market to ease the use of standards and the AP233 Toolbox is one of those. We are also committed to support both the .NET and the Java platforms with our solutions”, ends Mr Kårdén.

“The development of AP233 has delivered its goal”, says Dr Phil Spiby, Eurostep Limited, INCOSE member and Joint Technical lead in the development of AP233. “Eurostep has been very active in this development and played a key role for many years. It is with great pleasure we see the rapidly increasing interest in using AP233 and we are pleased that we are able to bring software to the market to ease the uptake of the standard. We know the market is large and for the last couple of years we have been working close to many large and small software vendors as well as end users”, ends Dr Spiby.

“INCOSE’s support has been instrumental for the completion of AP233”, says Mr. Mark Sampson, INCOSE Assistant Director, Modeling and Tools. “The exchange and sharing of Systems Engineering data has been high on the INCOSE agenda for the last couple of years. We are very pleased to see that the AP233 team delivered and we are pleased to see vendors like Eurostep bringing commercial software to the market”, ends Mr. Sampson.

What is AP233?

AP233 is an ISO standard information model for the interchange of Systems Architecture and Engineering data. The AP233 development team works closely with the OMG SysML™ development team, INCOSE and the US DoD to ensure support for and alignment with those standards communities. However, AP233 is designed to be neutral of any specific Architecture Framework (e.g. DoDAF), modelling language (e.g. OMG SysML™) or vendor application. Formally, AP233 is ISO 10303-233 Systems engineering, one of the STEP family of standards. AP233 is a STEP-based data exchange standard targeted to support the needs of the systems engineering community, consistent with emerging standards in CAD, structural, electrical, engineering analysis and support domains. The scope of AP233 is broad and includes:

• Requirements Management

• Product Data Management (PDM) - also known as Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

• Project Management (e.g. Cost and Schedule)

• Systems structures and functional breakdowns

• Systems function-based and state-based behavior

• Risk and Issues Management

• Decision support (including Trade Studies)

• Validation and Verification

What is INCOSE?

INCOSE is a not-for-profit professional organization, with a strong base in the United States, serving about 7000 members in over 22 countries. INCOSE’s mission is to advance the state of the art and practice of systems engineering in industry, academia, and government by promoting interdisciplinary, scaleable approaches to produce appropriate solutions that meet societal needs. Their Web site is http://www.incose.org.

About Eurostep:

Eurostep delivers software and consulting services for product lifecycle management with a particular focus on the exchange and sharing of data within and between enterprises. Services range from pre-studies to the implementation of systems. Eurostep’s flagship product, Share-A-space® (www.share-a-space.com), is software that supports collaborative engineering across the life cycle of products. Eurostep has subsidiaries in Sweden, the UK, Finland, France and the US and has blue-chip customers in a variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, defence, telecom, building & construction, and process industries.

Eurostep Group has been an international venture from its inception in 1994, and all subsidiaries have access to the leading edge PLM knowledge base in Eurostep Group.

For more information, please contact:

Håkan Kårdén, CEO Eurostep Group, at +46 8 4101 3150

hakan.karden@eurostep.com

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