December 12, 2006 – Intalio Releases BPM Software Under Open Source License.
Intalio today announced that its BPMS Community Edition software will be released under the Mozilla Public License amended with the Generic Attribution Provision submitted to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) earlier this year. For the full press release click here.

November 17, 2006 – Requirements Visualization Tool Wins Award for Emerging Technology
Ravenflow, whose Requirements Authoring and Validation Environment (RAVEN) automatically generates visual models from plain English text, today announced that it was selected as the Collaboration category winner of the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal’s Emerging Technology Awards (ETA). The annual ETA awards honor Silicon Valley’s spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. For the full press release click here.

November 6, 2006 – Visualization tools for requirements definition
Computerworld comments on the growth of visual requirement definition tools from suite vendors (Compuware, Borland and Serena) as well as smaller vendors (iRise Inc., Ravenflow, Axure Software Solutions, and Sofea). For the full article click here.

January 31, 2006. – Call for Papers: Model-Based Systems Engineering with SysML, UML, and OWL.
The editors of the Journal of Software and Systems Modeling (SoSyM) today announced a special theme issue on Model-Driven Systems Engineering with SysML, UML, and OWL. For the full press release click here.

December 12, 2006 – Intalio Releases BPM Software Under Open Source License.
Intalio today announced that its BPMS Community Edition software will be released under the Mozilla Public License amended with the Generic Attribution Provision submitted to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) earlier this year. For the full press release click here.

December 8, 2006. – NoMagic Announces MagicDraw Support for SysML.
No Magic, a leading vendor of architecture modeling software, today announced the release of MagicDraw® UML 12.0, which supports a new SysML plug-in as a separate extension product. Also, MagicDraw 12.0 extends its support of model analysis by adding model validation and the dependency matrix capabilities. For the full press release click here.

November 17, 2006 – Requirements Visualization Tool Wins Award for Emerging Technology
Ravenflow, whose Requirements Authoring and Validation Environment (RAVEN) automatically generates visual models from plain English text, today announced that it was selected as the Collaboration category winner of the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal’s Emerging Technology Awards (ETA). The annual ETA awards honor Silicon Valley’s spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. For the full press release click here.

November 6, 2006 – Visualization tools for requirements definition
Computerworld comments on the growth of visual requirement definition tools from suite vendors (Compuware, Borland and Serena) as well as smaller vendors (iRise Inc., Ravenflow, Axure Software Solutions, and Sofea). For the full article click here.

October 11, 2006 – Telelogic Announces Integration between UML/SysML Tool and Simulink.
Telelogic, a leading global provider of software solutions for enterprise applications, today announced direct product integration between their UML/SysML modeling tool, Telelogic Rhapsody®, and The MathWorks' platform for multi-domain simulation, Simulink®. The integration of Rhapsody and Simulink will be delivered in two phases. The first phase integration is available today, and allows modelers to link SysML Blocks in a Rhapsody model to their counterparts in a Simulink model. The second phase integration, which will allow modelers to directly insert a SysML Block into a Simulink model, is scheduled for 2Q 2007. For the full press release click here.

October 9, 2006 – PivotPoint-Sparx Partnership Promotes Model-Based Systems Engineering with SysML.
PivotPoint Technology and Sparx Systems today announced a technology partnership that will combine their complementary strengths in SysML training and tools for systems engineers. PivotPoint announced that its “SysML Distilled™ with Enterprise Architect™” workshop is immediately available, and will use Sparx’s new MDG Technology for SysML™ product. For the full press release click here.

October 3, 2006 – SysML Tool Market Heats Up - Sparx enters Model-Based Systems Engineering market.
Sparx Systems, a leading developer of UML modeling tools, today announced the release of MDG Technology for Systems Modeling Language (SysML), the new standard for modeling systems engineering applications. Sparx's Model Driven Generator (MDG) Technology is a plug-in for Enterprise Architect, its award-winning UML modeling tool, that allows systems engineers to specify complex systems using SysML version 1.0. The entry of Sparx into the Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) market may significantly change its dynamics, since Sparx has established a reputation for producing low-cost modeling tools that offer functionality competitive with the market leaders. There are now at least five visual modeling tool vendor shipping products that support SysML. For further information about the SysML modeling tools currently available click here.

July 12, 2006 – Analyst Firm Report on OOA&D Tools Results in Belated Bragging Rights by Leaders; Telelogic and Sparx support for SysML is noted. During the last week, the three tool vendors positioned in the leaders quadrant of Gartner's Magic Quadrant report for Object Analysis & Design (OOA&D) tools published last May—IBM, Borland, and Telelogic—have issued press releases noting their high rankings. The report suggests a changing marketplace, since Telelogic is positioned in the leaders quadrant for the first time, and Sparx Systems is positioned in the niche players quadrant for the first time. These changes likely reflect market trends towards consolidation (e.g., Telelogic's acquisitions of Popkin and I-Logix) and commoditization (e.g., the rapid rise of Sparx with 85K+ licenses sold). Although the report assumes that UML will continue to be the most widely used "flavor" of OOA&D modeling language through the end of the decade, it also notes that Telelogic and Sparx support the new SysML standard for systems engineering. You can obtain the full report ("Magic Quadrant for OOA&D Tools, 2H06-1H07" authored by  Michael J. Blechar) here.

July 6, 2006 – OMG Announces Adoption of OMG SysML. The Object Management Group™ (OMG™) today announced the adoption of the OMG Systems Modeling Language (OMG SysML™). OMG SysML is a general-purpose graphical modeling language for specifying, analyzing, designing, and verifying complex systems that may include hardware, software, information, personnel, procedures, and facilities. The OMG SysML specification is derived from the SysML open source specification, which was first distributed by the SysML Partners, an informal association of tool vendors and industry leaders, in 2004. Both SysML and OMG SysML are defined as UML extensions, and include an open source license for distribution and use. The current adoption status of OMG SysML is that of a "Final Adopted Specification." An OMG Finalization Task Force plans to recommended a final version of OMG SysML in April 2007, which will need to voted upon again before it becomes a public "Available Specification." The OMG SysML specification is available for download here.

June 15, 2006 – Of Different Minds About Modeling. SD Times interviews five modeling experts to speculate on UML's future. The experts include Bran Selic from IBM, Jack Greenfield from Microsoft, Cris Kobryn from PivotPoint Technology, Jan Popkin from Telelogic, and Richard Soley from the OMG. SysML is also mentioned as an example of how UML can be used to define new standards. You can read the full article here.

May 30, 2006 – Analyst Firm Updates Its OOA&D Tool Report. Gartner today published an update of its Magic Quadrant report for Object Analysis & Design (OOA&D) tools. The updated report positions Telelogic in the leaders quadrant for the first time, joining IBM and Borland, and positions Sparx Systems in the niche players quadrant for the first time, recognizing its rapid growth. You can obtain the full report ("Magic Quadrant for OOA&D Tools, 2H06-1H07" authored by  Michael J. Blechar) here.

April 3, 2006 – SysML Merge Team submits SysML v. 1.0 draft proposal to OMG for technology adoption. The SysML Merge Team today submitted their Systems Modeling Language (SysML) v. 1.0 draft proposal to the OMG to consider for technology adoption. The OMG plans to vote on recommending this draft proposal, which uses the SysML project's open source license for distribution and use, during its next meeting in St. Louis during the week of April 24, 2006. You can view or download the SysML v. 1.0 draft specification from the Specifications page of the SysML Forum web.

March 15, 2006 – CMP Media announces winners of 16th Annual Jolt Product Excellence Awards for Design Tools and Modeling. The  editors of Dr. Dobb's Journal today announced the winners of the 16th Annual Software Development Jolt Product Excellence and Productivity Awards during the SD West 2006 Conference & Exposition at the Santa Clara Convention Center. These awards are presented annually to products and books that have "jolted" the industry by helping to create faster, easier and more efficient software. The Jolt Winner for the "Design Tools and Modeling" category was Lattix LDM  2.0 (Lattix). The Productivity Winners in the same category consisted of two UML modeling tools (Borland Together 2006 for Eclipse (Borland) and Enterprise Architect 6.0 (Sparx Systems)) and MindManager Pro 6.0 (Mindjet). Among these design and modeling tools, only Together 2006 and Enterprise Architect directly support standard UML visual modeling notation. Lattice LDM uses Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM; a.k.a. Design Structure Matrix) notation, and MindManager Pro uses Mindjet's own proprietrary visual notation.

February 9, 2006 – Semantic Technology Conference (SemTech 2006) announces keynote speakers. The Semantic Technology Conference (SemTech), the leading educational conference on Semantic Web technology in the U.S., today announced its lineup of keynote speakers for SemTech 2006 on March 6-9, 2006 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, Calif. The featured keynote speakers include James Hendler (University of Maryland) and Ora Lassila (Nokia Research Center) who will discuss the "Current Status and Future Promise of the Semantic Web." The four-day conference sessions and keynotes will explore the commercialization and emerging applications of semantic technologies in both enterprise systems and the Internet. For more information or to register for this event, please visit www.semantic-technology.com.

Unified Modeling Language, UML and OMG SysML are trademarks of the Object Management Group. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.