International Electrotechnical Commission moves Common Information Model to Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect.

IEC Technical Committee 57 (TC57) adopts Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect as UML tool to maintain, manage and distribute the Common Information Model

Creswick, Australia, January 28, 2009 – Following an extensive period of collaborative investigation and trial by WG13 and WG14, the Working Groups within IEC TC57 began to maintain the Common Information Model (CIM) in Sparx Systems Enterprise Architect in late 2008. The CIM is an ontology of the business domain for the electric industry.

The IEC is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. The IEC WG13 team is one of several Working Groups within the IEC TC57, which develops and maintains international standards that are used worldwide. The decision to migrate its legacy CIM model to the modern Enterprise Architect modeling platform was driven by industry recognition of the need for a UML tool that had strong product support, was easy to install and inexpensive without compromising functionality.

As explained by Margaret Goodrich, Manager of Systems Engineering at SISCO and a member of CIM User Group and IEC WG14, Enterprise Architect will remove any entry barriers that previously existed for the use and implementation of the Common Information Model and its companion standards. “We fully expect this move to increase the growth in deployment of the standards throughout the Utility Enterprise.”

Scott Neumann, CTO for UISOL and a member of IEC WG14, said he found that “Enterprise Architect was the most capable, yet cost effective UML tool available that could permit the CIM to be exploited by the widest audience in utilities worldwide.”

An active participant in key standards forums such as the Object Management Group (OMG), Sparx Systems was one of the first modeling tool vendors to provide UML 2 support. The company’s continued responsiveness to its growing customer base and aggressive product development cycle in support of open standards has positioned Sparx Systems as a leading vendor in the modeling tools space.

Ken Harkin Business Development Manager for Sparx Systems noted that “the decision of the IEC underscores a growing recognition of Enterprise Architect as a popular choice for its combined high performance and low cost. Furthermore, this decision and that of the ISO/TC 211 in 2008 to maintain ISO19100 models for use by the community in the creation of geospatial standards, reflects the commercial appeal of Enterprise Architect and adds to a growing trend of adoption and deployment of Enterprise Architect by standards bodies including WC3, AUTOSAR, OASIS, UN/CEFACT and OGC.”

About IEC

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. These serve as a basis for national standardization and as references when drafting international tenders and contracts.

Through its members, the IEC promotes international cooperation on all questions of electrotechnical standardization and related matters, such as the assessment of conformity to standards, in the fields of electricity, electronics and related technologies.

The IEC charter embraces all electrotechnologies including electronics, magnetics and electromagnetics, electroacoustics, multimedia, telecommunication, and energy production and distribution, as well as associated general disciplines such as terminology and symbols, electromagnetic compatibility, measurement and performance, dependability, design and development, safety and the environment.

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 7.1, Enterprise Architect is the design tool of choice for over 150,000 registered users world-wide.