OMG and Unisys to Provide Stamp of Approval for UML Modeling Tool Interoperability; OMG and Unisys join forces to develop modeling tool test suite

Business Wire, Jan 18, 2006

NEEDHAM, Mass. -- The Object Management Group(TM) (OMG(TM)), today announced that OMG, in partnership with Unisys, has developed a validation program to certify interoperability of UML(R) modeling tools through compliance with the OMG's XML Metadata Interchange (XMI(R)) standard.

Metadata management is recognized as the solution for cross enterprise integration. This test is the first in a family of tests leveraging the OMG Meta-Object Facility (MOF(TM)) technology for metadata management. The UML/XMI Interoperability Test Program validates that particular modeling tool products can interoperate.

The test suite is being created with close cooperation between Unisys and the OMG Technology Committees, which oversee all OMG standards. Unisys will conduct all of the certification tests in their state-of-the-art laboratory and will also provide consulting services to help tool vendors prepare their products for validated compliance with the standard. Vendors of certified products will be able to leverage the "OMG Certified" brand in their products and marketing efforts. OMG will hold a live interoperability demonstration of certified products at the June 2006 OMG Technical Meeting Week in Boston, Massachusetts.

"Customers want flexibility in their choice of modeling tools, and they want assurances that the multiple tools in their tool chains interoperate," said Dr. Richard Soley, Chairman and CEO of OMG. "Through this certification program, customers can feel confident that they are protecting their technology investments now and in the future by using products tested for compliance with open standards."

"Companies that want to use modern modeling techniques to develop their enterprise-class applications depend on OMG's modeling standards and the products that implement them," said Dr. Sumeet Malhotra, Global Director of Advanced Research, CTO's Office, Unisys Corporation. "Between OMG's standards expertise and Unisys' testing and consulting strengths, we have put together a suite of modeling interoperability tests that will give companies powerful new information to aid them in their modeling tool purchasing decisions."

"Borland is participating to serve the interests of our primary customer, the manager of IT. Borland customers are particularly averse to vendor lock-in. They look to us for portable project assets, and in model-driven development, this means our MDA and UML suite, Together2006," commented Karl Frank, Principal Architect, Borland Software.

For more information about the certification process contact Nicole Rikkinen at nicole@omg.org.

About Unisys

Unisys is a worldwide information technology services and solutions company. Our people combine expertise in consulting, systems integration, outsourcing, infrastructure and server technology with precision thinking and relentless execution to help clients, in more than 100 countries, quickly and efficiently achieve competitive advantage. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.

About The OMG

With well-established standards covering software from design and development, through deployment and maintenance, and extending to evolution to future platforms, the Object Management Group (OMG) supports a full-lifecycle approach to enterprise integration which maximizes ROI, the key to successful IT. OMG's Modeling standards, the basis for the MDA(R), include the Unified Modeling Language(TM) (UML(R)) and Common Warehouse Metamodel (CWM(TM)). CORBA, the Common Object Request Broker Architecture, is OMG's standard open platform with hundreds of millions of deployments running today. Headquartered in Needham, MA, USA, the Object Management Group is an international, open membership, not-for-profit computer industry specifications consortium. More information about OMG can be found at www.omg.org.

Note to editors: MDA, Model Driven Architecture, OMG Logo, UML and CORBA are registered trademarks, and OMG, Object Management Group, MOF, MDA Logos, Unified Modeling Language and UML logo are trademarks, of Object Management Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.