Byron Informatik is dedicated to software development and consulting for engineering companies in the HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) sector and for companies doing facility management. Its clientele are from companies around the world, including from Germany and Switzerland, and will soon include many more European countries.

The System

Byron Informatik is used the Alsys Ada development environment to develop a super-CAD system, the “Integrated Engineering System.” The system is far more than a regular CAD-system because all information about the objects is stored in a database. The CAD-like applications, when plugged into the database, directly manipulate the objects in the database; there is no difference between applications offering the information CAD-like and textual. In contrast, other CAD systems store the drawings in a separate, internal file format; even when coupled with a database, they tend to dominate the whole system.

The Integrated Engineering System helps the design of premises to optimize heating, ventilation, and air conditioning effectiveness. The six-person team originally developed a kernel for the HVAC engineer. It combines a tight coupling between integrated tools through an underlying object-oriented database and a uniform user interface. The system allows an easy integration of new tools. The kernel also fits well for Facility Management tasks, namely Building and Cable Management.

The project is now six years old and the software includes CAD-like features for the construction of schemes and 3-D plant and building models. Additionally, it enables users to make relevant calculations on these models for heat lossand for the dimensioning of pipes and radiators. In facility management applications, the dense information available in a fully developed building model is presented and used to organize administrative tasks (for instance, services and moves).

The Development

The application was developed with the Alsys Ada compiler, AdaWorld for HP9000/700 following the Object-Oriented Design method (from Booch). It took about 300 person-months for the six engineers to develop about 900,000 lines of code. The application was developed with the help of several tools and third-parties: Object Store (Object Design) as Database, PHIGS (Figaro from Liant) and Xll (Motif for the user-interface). A TCP/IP communication network has been used for Object Store and X-Windows information exchange.

The Ada Advantages

Ada was chosen by the team for this project because it perfectly meets the requirements of the application. "First, Ada is a standard, which enables easy porting on every platform. Second, it provides high-quality support for large programs developed by several developers. Third and finally, its safety features, like strong typing and packages, are a key point, since it allows package modification without affecting other program modules," says Mr. Duppenthaler, Project Manager. In addition, Byron Informatik developers were able to take advantage of code reuse, made possible with Ada’s generic features.

Ada's Future with Byron Informatik

In the near future, the application will be ported to other Unix workstations and PCs using Solaris. At the same time, the software will be loaded with enhanced capabilities. Convinced of the benefits of Alsys and Ada, Byron Informatik angineers also plan to start developing a new facility management tool in Ada. They are looking forward to the release of Ada 95.

For further information, please contact:

Ann Trib
Alsys GMBH & Co.KG
Kleinoberfeld 7
D-75135 Karlsruhe
Germany
Phone: + 49 721 985 530
Fax: + 49 49 721 985 5398