Systematica Ltd, the tiny UKP5m turnover Bournemouth, UK company that already licenses its technology to Information Builders, Informix and Cognos, has really hit paydirt this time with an agreement on its software engineering products with IBM that is being cemented by IBM taking an undisclosed equity stake in the company that could go as high as 20%. In a move that brings IBM’s AIX Unix closer to Systems Application Architecture, IBM has named Systematica as its fifth AD/Cycle partner, joining Knowledgeware Inc, Bachman Information Systems Inc, Index Technology Corp and Synon Ltd. As an AD/Cycle business partner Systematica will work with IBM using its Virtual Software Factory meta tool for computer-aided software engineering to develop a tool for IBM’s BSDM methodology. The tool will be used internally under OS/2 by both IBM and some of its business customers to develop applications that conform to this business methodology. Virtual Software Factory is also to be implemented under AIX to enable the RS/6000 to take advantage of Systematica’s Hood-SF workbench – Hierarchical Object-Oriented Design is the standard European methodology for aerospace and defence – ironically, Hood-SF was developed in collaboration with DEC as part of an ongoing technology agreement between the two companies. While, Systematica’s marketing director Michael Fish says that integrating AIX into SAA is a problem far bigger than that addressed by Virtual Software Factory, he did add that having this meta tool under both OS/2 and AIX gave a greater commonality to the two environments. He said the tool could be used as part of a project to bring AIX into SAA, but said that IBM would probably build slightly different interfaces to address the two operating systems. Systematica is the first AD/Cycle partner to license technology to IBM so that the company can create products itself.
