From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 10db24,98e3fdce96ead12,start X-Google-Attributes: gid10db24,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,98e3fdce96ead12,start X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,98e3fdce96ead12,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: ff6c8,98e3fdce96ead12,start X-Google-Attributes: gidff6c8,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,98e3fdce96ead12,start X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public From: cseic@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us (CFCSEIC) Subject: CFCSEIC News Briefs Week Ending May 8, 1998 Date: 1998/05/13 Message-ID: <6jcl07$qd8@ns1.sw-eng.falls-church.va.us> X-Deja-AN: 352932830 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Organization: Center For Computer Systems Engineering Information Clearinghouse Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.sw.components,comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.edu Date: 1998-05-13T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: CONTENTS: A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING COTS SOFTWARE DOD SETS UP INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE ON COTS RELIABILITY SPAWAR REQUIRES LEVEL 7 DII COE COMPLIANCE ************************************************************************ A FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATING COTS SOFTWARE Topic: Software Engineering A feature in the Software Engineering Institute's new publication, news@sei, discusses the SEI COTS-Based Systems (CBS) Initiative, which is currently developing a COTS software evaluation framework to help program managers, chief designers, architects, and lead engineers select the appropriate COTS technologies and products for use in mission-critical systems. In the past, a variety of evaluation techniques have been used to develop a "best practice" evaluation, but no comprehensive work has been done to catalogue these techniques, or to describe and relate them so that an appropriate evaluation technique can be selected and applied in a specific setting. Working with Lockheed Martin, a team from the CBS Initiative began to catalogue "best evaluation" and "best industry" practices for the Department of Defense (DoD). Based on these studies, the CBS team has constructed a preliminary evaluation framework and has created a tutorial, which was presented at the International Conference on Software Engineering held in Japan in April. A more detailed treatment of the framework can be found at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/97.reports /97sr019/97sr019chap03.htm. For further information about the CBS Initiative, contact Ray Obenza, (412) 268-6312, or obenza@sei.cmu.edu. Additional information is also available on the WWW at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/technology/dynamic_systems/cbs/. Source: Eileen Forrester, news@sei, "A Framework for Evaluating COTS Software, Spring 1998, v1, n1, p6 ***************************************************************************** DOD SETS UP INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE ON COTS RELIABILITY Topic: Software Engineering An article in the April issue of Military & Aerospace Electronics discusses the creation of a new clearinghouse for reliability test information on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and equipment. The clearinghouse has been established by officials at the Department of Defense (DoD) and will be supported by a consortium of commercial, U.S. government, and foreign organizations. The consortium is headquartered at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate in Rome, NY, and is called The Reliability Analysis Center Data Sharing Consortium. It will accumulate and disseminate testing information to ensure that COTS parts in various applications and environments are robust enough to operate reliably in military and aerospace systems. The consortium was established to share screening, qualification, field data, failure analysis, and obsolescence information for COTS components, equipment, and assemblies. It has four categories of members: full members, contributing members, non-contributing members, and associate members (all U.S. government agencies). For more information on the consortium, contact David Dylis, (315) 339-7055, fax: (315) 336-1371, or ddylis@rome.iitri.com. The consortium disseminates database information over the WWW at http://rome.iitri.com/consortium. Source: John Keller, "DoD sets up information clearinghouse on COTS reliability", Military & Aerospace Electronics, Apr. 1998, v9, n4, p7 http://www.pennwell.com ************************************************************************ SPAWAR REQUIRES LEVEL 7 DII COE COMPLIANCE Topic: DII COE According to an article in the May 4th issue of Government Computer News, Rear Adm. John Gauss, commander of the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), stated last month that software for his command will have to meet Level 7 of the DII COE's specifications. According to Gauss, anything below Level 7 is not an integrated system. There are eight levels of compliance that are currently specified, and Level 7 provides interoperability using COE services to integrate data. The DoD's Joint Technical Architecture Version 1.0 requires Level 5 compliance for product certification, but SPAWAR is taking its systems higher. "Because requirements only go to Level 5, applications appear integrated to the user. But interoperability is not guaranteed and functionality is duplicated because systems are maintained as stovepipes," says Gauss. He feels that Level 7 promises a more economical approach because it uses standard application programming interfaces to integrate data and prevents legacy applications from duplicating functions. At Level 7, the COE specifications also demand low-level tools for data exchange and an architecture for managing data flow across systems. Source: Gregory Slabodkin, "At one Navy command, apps must really be integrated under COE", Government Computer News, May 4, 1998, v17, n12, p59 http://gcn.com *********************************************************************** The DISA CFCSEIC welcomes suggestions for and pointers to software engineering-related articles. Contact the DISA CFCSEIC at: mailto:info@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us To subscribe to the "Center for Computer Systems Engineering News Brief" electronic mailing list, send a message to: mailto:listproc@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us In the body of the message, write: subscribe newslist To unsubscribe, write: unsubscribe newslist No signatures please. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Center for Computer Systems Engineering Information Clearinghouse (CFCSEIC) "Center for Computer Systems Engineering News Briefs" is a compilation of summaries from software engineering-related articles in trade magazines, newsletters and press releases. For subscription information about the CFCSEIC DII COE Q&A LISTSERV, point to: .