Companies to demonstrate FACE™ certified products at TIM event in Ohio
San Francisco, CA – March 07, 2017 – Following the launch of The Open Group Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE™) Conformance Program in September 2016, two companies have now had their software products certified as FACE™ Conformant.
- Rockwell Collins, for its Mission Flight Management software product
- Harris Corporation, for its FliteScene® digital map software product
"This is an important milestone for reducing system costs," said Heather Robertson, Senior Director of Rotary Wing Solutions at Rockwell Collins. "Conforming to the FACE™ Standard ensures that our Mission Flight Management Software product is architected to work across multiple avionics implementations, reducing test time and ultimately increasing rapid, affordable fielding of new and enhanced capabilities."
The FACE™ Conformance Program defines the processes to verify, certify, and provide formal recognition that registered software conforms to the FACE™ Technical Standard. Through the FACE™ Conformance Program, buyers get reliable assurance of conformance to standards and best practices as well as increased confidence in portability and re-use. Product value is increased since it also minimizes the need for independent conformance testing by the buyer, bid analysis is greatly simplified and procurement complexity reduced. All this, coupled with easier integration and faster time into the field, results in lower cost and risk than that normally associated with software procurement. Total Cost of Ownership is also reduced both at the outset and as the technology is inserted and refreshed throughout the life of the system or platform.
“Conformance activities ensure that our customers receive quality solutions that meet the growing need for common software architecture”, said Doug Williams, Chief Systems Engineer at Harris. “The standards established by the FACE™ Consortium are a significant step forward in open architecture initiatives.”
FACE™ Verification Authorities NAVAIR, the US Army SED, CERTON, and TES-SAVi are now gearing to assist more vendors going through the verification process, on their way to having products certified FACE™ conformant. Two additional software products have recently completed the FACE Verification process using approved FACE VAs.
- US Army AMRDEC, for the Reusable Radio Control Component (R2C2) software product
- Wind River, for its VxWorks® 653 Platform, a real-time COTS operating system
Working with its FACE Verification Authority, TES-SAVi, to complete rigorous FACE conformance verification testing, Wind River VxWorks® 653 Platform has passed the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE™) conformance verification, the first commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product to achieve this significant FACE certification milestone. “Now that we have trail blazed and have all the artifacts for this first commercial OS product, the work to complete the next versions shall roll-out much quicker,” states Stephen Simi for TES-SAVi, a FACE VA. “Yes, the FACE Strategy (verifying and certifying software products as conformant to the FACE Technical Standard) is now open for business”.
“As a member of the FACE™ Consortium since the start, we are proud of the work that our Wind River team and the FACE™ membership has performed”, states Chip Downing, Senior Director of Aerospace and Defense at Wind River. “Successfully completing the FACE conformance verification tests launches a new era of rapid integration and deployment of global avionics software. This verification directly removes risk from programs building next generation systems”.
“The FACE™ Technical Standard is an important enabler for building meaningful and reusable software components for today’s and tomorrow’s airborne systems,” said Justin Bragan, CERTON Director of Sales and Business Development. “CERTON is proud to be a part of the FACE™ consortium and honored to be one of only a handful of FACE™ VAs. We hope our involvement promotes additional interest and utilization of the FACE™ Technical Standard.”
Steve Nunn, President and CEO, The Open Group, said, “The conformance certification of Rockwell Collins’ and Harris Corporation’s software products, as well as Wind River’s successful operating system verification, represent significant milestones in the industry’s approach to the procurement of software for avionics systems. Buyers can now procure based on vendors' warranting conformance to a standard arrived at through industry-government partnership. This will undoubtedly accelerate the adoption of the FACE™ Technical Standard, bringing benefits to buyers and vendors alike.”
The FACE™ Consortium is also receiving accolades for developing this innovative business approach. On March 2, 2017, the Consortium was a finalist for an Aviation Week Laureate Award in the Innovation category, for assuring software conforming to the FACE™ Technical Standard is open, portable and reusable.
Organizations including Rockwell Collins, Harris Corporation, Wind River, CERTON, and TES-SAVi will be exhibiting at the upcoming Air Force FACE™ Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) in Dayton, Ohio on March 28 2017. For more information on how to register please find the Air Force FACE™ TIM Registration Link here.
To find out more about the FACE™ Conformance Program and how software can be certified, please visit http://www.opengroup.org/face/conformance. The FACE™ Conformance Policy, Conformance Certification Guide, and Technical Standard may be downloaded from The Open Group online bookstore, along with additional FACE™ publications, including the FACE™ Business Guide and Contract Guide.
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About The Open Group
The Open Group is an international vendor--‐and technology--‐neutral consortium upon which organizations rely to lead the development of IT standards and certifications, and to provide them with access to key industry peers, suppliers and best practices. The Open Group provides guidance and an open environment in order to ensure interoperability and vendor neutrality. Further information on The Open Group can be found at http://www.opengroup.org.