Maestro II, a computer-aided software engineering system developed to run under Unix by Philips Telecommunication and Data Systems Division, Apeldoorn, Netherlands, and Softlab GmbH, has been unveiled in Munich, West Germany. Following its predecessor – the Maestro integrated product support environment – Maestro II runs on Philips P9000 machines, an MS-DOS version is to follow next month, and Posix compliance will be added by the end of the year. The package is primarily aimed at developers of software applications within management information systems environments. There is a proliferation of software engineering tools at present, with the increasing emphasis on the automation of development processes. Many are machine- and method-dependent however. Maestro II on the other hand, is claimed to be sensitive to standards, supporting any methodology or development process, as well as integrating with existing stand-alone tools, and providing a common database for all users. Both front-and back-end tools can be plugged into Maestro II, from common user interfaces to code generators. The success of Maestro in the market will be especially important for Philips. Senior marketing director Dr Gert Bindels says we are aiming for 45% of our targeted turnover from software and services by 1992, so computer-aided software engineering will be the key to success in information technology for us. In addition, Philips Business Systems, the UK based office automation division of the Philips group has announced that Maestro II will soon be available on AT alikes, which, via Unix servers, will act as graphics workstations. Versions of Maestro II will cost between UKP3,500 and UKP5,000 per workstation, plus UKP150 a month software licences.
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