Companies Following IBM's Lead in Computer-Aided Software Design
 
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO (Microbytes Daily News Service) --- This week's
CASExpo exposition on computer- aided software engineering (CASE)
had little to offer in terms of new products or developments.
However, one trend is clear. IBM's recent announcement of
AD/Cycle has set the stage for standards to emerge in the CASE
market. Most of the exhibitors at CASExpo here showed products
designed to integrate into IBM's AD/Cycle environment, which is
based on a DB2 central repository connected to microcomputer
workstations running OS/2.
 
Asyst Technologies claims to have AD/Cycle-compatible tools
available right now. Asyst was demonstrating its DB2 repository
and OS/2 and MS Windows-based front-end tools. The repository
costs about $50,000. The front-end tools range from $2000 to
$7000. Other companies such as KnowledgeWare, Index Technologies,
and Bachman Information systems displayed their planned software
engineering tools for AD/Cycle.
 
IBM's announcement of AD/Cycle will "legitimize the CASE
marketplace," even though the CASE market is just getting
started, Asyst president Mike Lyons told Microbytes Daily. "CASE
has about 5 percent market penetration," said Lyons. "But data
processing budgets for CASE have gone from an average of $15,000
to about $250,000 in the last year," claimed Lyons. He predicted
that AD/Cycle will create an enormous market for OS/2-based
workstations used for software development. But a PS/2 configured
to run AD/Cycle applications will cost close to $20,000. "If your
shop has 50 programmers, that's a million bucks worth of
hardware," pointed out Lyons.
 
But hardware is no longer the "point of most expense," said IBM's
James Archer. "Labor costs are now dominant, and the productivity
gains have been small." A 2000-line COBOL project costs as much
as a new car, Archer said. And, in addition, the labor pool for
programmers is expected to decline in the next few years, as the
student population continues to decrease. Archer cited studies
that say fewer students are opting for careers in computer
programming and computer science. These fields have "lost their
glamour and are perceived as a hard way to make a living," said
Archer.
 
A newcomer to the CASE market is Apple Computer, which exhibited
for the first time at a CASE-related event. Apple is promoting
the virtues of the Mac desktop as a starting point for CASE
development. Apple's booth featured CASE and traditional office
software applications, from third-party developers, running on
the Macintosh.
 
Contact: Asyst Technologies, One Naperville Place, Naperville, IL
60540; (312) 416-2990.
 
                              --- Nick Baran
 
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