Sparx Systems Supports European Joint Research Centre Standards Development

Enterprise Architect to assist in development of European Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Creswick, Australia, August 31, 2010 – Sparx Systems, a leading vendor of modeling tools based on open standards, today announced that it will provide support to the Joint Research Centre(JRC) by making licenses of Enterprise Architect, the award winning UML modeling tool, available to the Spatial Data Infrastructure(SDI) unit.

The mission of the JRC is to provide scientific and technical support for the development, and monitoring of EU policies. The SDI Unit is the scientific-technical coordinator of INSPIRE and leads research towards future European environmental information infrastructures through development of the European Directive INSPIRE. By delivering integrated spatial information services to policy-makers at European, national, local and the citizen levels the JRC serves the Member States.

Enterprise Architect, Sparx Systems’ flagship UML modeling platform is the popular choice of the global geospatial community for the development of reference models and the enabling of data interoperability.

Paul Smits, who is leading the group at JRC that is developing the legal acts and guidelines for the technical components of INSPIRE, said “we are grateful for the generous gesture of Sparx Systems to provide, by way of CEN/TC 287 Geographic Information, free Enterprise Architect licenses for INSPIRE-related work.”

He added, “The free licenses, and the company’s readiness to accommodate INSPIRE-specific requirements in their UML platform, confirm Sparx Systems continuing commitment to support the INSPIRE community. This benefits the global geospatial community at large as more and more states around the world are considering INSPIRE as a model to follow.”

“Sparx Systems is proud to support the work of the JRC and the development of the European Spatial Data Infrastructure” commented Ken Harkin, Business Development Manager at Sparx Systems. “The relevance of geospatial information is increasing as services from Government and the private sector are more often location-based and those consumers seeking to gain a local understanding of their environment and territory are pressing for more detailed information."

Mr Harkin continued, “In making data interoperability a reality, new information pathways and better decision making processes are possible. The standards development work of the SDI Unit is enabling the seamless combination of diverse European spatial information which can be shared between users and applications, creating opportunities for improved management of Europe’s natural resources and environment, at the distributed and local levels.”

Enterprise Architect 8, the most recent product release from Sparx Systems, is available for download and evaluation from: www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/8

About Sparx Systems
Sparx Systems specializes in high performance and scalable visual modeling tools for the planning, design and construction of software intensive systems.

With customers in industries ranging from aerospace and automotive engineering to finance, defense, government, entertainment and telecommunications, Sparx Systems is a leading vendor of innovative solutions based on the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and its related specifications. A Contributing Member of the Object Management Group (OMG), Sparx Systems is committed to realizing the potential of model-driven development based on open standards.

The company’s flagship product, Enterprise Architect, has received numerous accolades since its commercial release in August, 2000. Now at version 8, Enterprise Architect is the design tool of choice for over 200,000 registered users world-wide.

About CEN
The European Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN) is a business facilitator in Europe, removing trade barriers for European industry and consumers. Its mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens and the environment. Through its services it provides a platform for the development of European Standards and other technical specifications. CEN is a major provider of European Standards and technical specifications. It is the only recognized European organization according to Directive 98/34/EC for the planning, drafting and adoption of European Standards in all areas of economic activity with the exception of electrotechnology (CENELEC) and telecommunication (ETSI). CEN's 31 National Members work together to develop voluntary European Standards (ENs).

About JRC
The mission of the Spatial Data Infrastructures Unit is to coordinate the scientific and technical development of the European Directive INSPIRE, support its implementation, and lead research towards the next generation environmental information infrastructures at European and Global level. Being one of the key pieces of legislation in European environmental policies, INSPIRE delivers integrated spatial information services to its users. These services should allow the users to identify and access spatial information from a wide range of sources, from the local to the global level, in an inter-operable way and for a variety of uses. The target users of INSPIRE include policy-makers at European, national and local level and the citizen.

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