CSEIC News Briefs, W/E Sept. 5, 1997

CSEIC News Briefs, W/E Sept. 5, 1997

[CSEIC]

Computer Systems Engineering News Briefs
Week Ending:  Sept. 5, 1997

***********************************************************************
AJPO ANNOUNCES NEW ADA VALIDATION FACILITY
Topic: Ada

The Ada Joint Program Office (AJPO) is pleased to recognize the 
Electronic Data Systems (EDS) Ada Validation Facility (AVF) as an approved 
testing laboratory for the validation of Ada compilers, as provided 
for in the document "Ada Compiler Validation Procedures, Version 5.0" 
(AVCP).  Subject to conditions stated in the AVCP, the AJPO will award 
validation certificates to Ada implementations tested by the EDS AVF.

For more information, contact the Ada Information Clearinghouse at 
1-800/AdaIC-11, or visit the AVF Web page:  
<http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/AdaIC/compilers/avf/>.

SOURCE:  AJPO

**********************************************************************
DOD COMBINATION FITS ONE PLATFORM
Topic:  DII, COE

The Defense Department recently demonstrated that it could combine 
command and control with combat support functions in a fused picture of 
the battlefield at last month's Joint Warrior Interoperability 
Demonstration (JWID).  "This demo is all about system integration," said 
USAF Lt. Col. Tomasita Lahue, commander of the Pentagon's Combat Support 
Operations Center, at the demo.

"At last year's Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstrations, we were 
able to show some of the capabilities that we are showing today, 
except they were shown on separate platforms," she said.  "Today we're 
blending the operational command and control picture on one platform."

Last month's JWID showcased DISA initiatives including the Global Command 
and Control System, the Global Combat Support System, the Defense Message 
System, and the Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating 
Environment.    

SOURCE:  Slabodkin, Gregory, "DOD Combo fits one platform," Government 
Computer News, August 25, 1997, v16, n25, pp. 77-78.

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DOD OFFICIALS SEEK TO EXPAND THE DMS
Topic: DII

A Joint Chiefs of Staff team recently told Pentagon officials that the 
DOD should take "full advantage of evolving commercial information 
technology" by expanding the requirements for the Defense Message System 
(DMS).  The high-level review team recommended expanding DMS, which is 
built around international X.400 message protocol. to a dual-protocol 
architecture that would include Internet's Simple Message Transfer 
Protocol (SMTP).

The review called an inclusive architecture a more flexible 
implementation of DMS that would not restrict the potential 2 million DOD 
users of DMS tot he X.400 infrastructure.

SOURCE: Slabodkin, Gregory, "Joint Staff urges DMS team to drop 
X.400-only approach," Government Computer News, August 25, 1997, v16, 
n25, pp. 1, 101.

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NEW BOOK ON SOFTWARE REUSE RELEASED
Topic:  Reuse

Mr. Donald J. Reifer, former Chief of the Ada Joint Program Office 
(AJPO), has recently released his new book on software reuse entitled 
"Practical Software Reuse" (ISBN 0-471-57853-3) through the publishing 
company John Wiley & Sons.

"Practical Software Reuse" is a complete guide to re-engineering software 
organizations to take full advantage of state-of-the-art reuse methods. Ed 
Yourdon, software engineering consultant and writer, states about 
"Practical Software Reuse":  "There are a a handful of books that every 
software engineer, system analyst, and software manager should have on 
his or her bookshelf... I'm delighted to say that I can add Don Reifer's 
'Practical Software Reuse' as a must-read item to the list."

SOURCE:  Donald J. Reifer

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Engineering Information Clearinghouse (CSEIC) "Computer Systems 
Engineering News Briefs" is a compilation of summaries from software 
engineering-related articles in trade magazines, newsletters and press 
releases. The DISA CSEIC welcomes suggestions for and pointers to 
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Re: CSEIC News Briefs, W/E Sept. 5, 1997

[Marc A. Criley]

I just wanted to add a comment on the JWID effort referred to below.
While it was not explicitly mentioned in the CSEIC excerpt or the
original GCN article, one component of JWID was NWCS (NSFS Warfare
Control System -- NSFS = Naval Surface Fire Support).

The purpose of NWCS is Fire Coordination, handling incoming calls for
fire and redirecting them to various weapon systems to execute.  For
JWID, two of the three weapon systems were stubbed out, while the
third consisted of the Engagement Planning & Control (EPC) segment of
the Advanced Tomahawk Weapon Control System (ATWCS).  EPC generates
an over-the-water route for a Tomahawk missile, and manages and
monitors the missile during preparation and power-up, until ordering
the Launch Control system to initiate its launch.

The EPC software demonstrated at JWID was an alpha version of the
second generation of ATWCS EPC (locally referred to as the EPC
Rearchitecture), written in Ada 83, that besides exploiting the usual
features of Ada relies heavily on Ada tasking.  According to the
engineers who integrated NWCS and demonstrated it at JWID 97, EPC
performed flawlessly throughout the scenario.

Mainstream development of EPC has progressed significantly since
that alpha release in June, and we've had positive experience with
it within ATWCS.  Plans are underway to migrate to Ada 95 at an
opportune time, with the implementation currently utilizing various
techniques to facilitate that migration and exploit Ada 95 features.

Marc A. Criley
Chief Software Architect
Lockheed Martin M&DS
(610) 354-7861
marc.criley@lmco.com


-- The opinions expressed here are mine and not necessarily those   --
-- of Lockheed Martin or the ATWCS community.  It's just that I and --
-- my team did the EPC Rearchitecture and we're proud of it! :-)    --




CSEIC wrote:

<excerpts excised>
> 
> **********************************************************************
> DOD COMBINATION FITS ONE PLATFORM
> Topic:  DII, COE
> 
> The Defense Department recently demonstrated that it could combine
> command and control with combat support functions in a fused picture of
> the battlefield at last month's Joint Warrior Interoperability
> Demonstration (JWID).  "This demo is all about system integration," said
> USAF Lt. Col. Tomasita Lahue, commander of the Pentagon's Combat Support
> Operations Center, at the demo.
> 
> "At last year's Joint Warrior Interoperability Demonstrations, we were
> able to show some of the capabilities that we are showing today,
> except they were shown on separate platforms," she said.  "Today we're
> blending the operational command and control picture on one platform."
> 
> Last month's JWID showcased DISA initiatives including the Global Command
> and Control System, the Global Combat Support System, the Defense Message
> System, and the Defense Information Infrastructure Common Operating
> Environment.
> 
> SOURCE:  Slabodkin, Gregory, "DOD Combo fits one platform," Government
> Computer News, August 25, 1997, v16, n25, pp. 77-78.
>