Web tool links designers behind firewalls

[InfoSec News <isn () C4I ORG>]

http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20001016S0032

By Charles J. Murray
EE Times
(10/16/00, 12:40 p.m. EST)

PARK RIDGE, Ill.  Startup Aviatis Corp. this week will unveil a
Web-based solution aimed at managing the dissemination of design
information in projects that involve hundreds of engineers who are
often working thousands of miles apart.

Known as LiveDoc, the solution addresses the "data island" problems
that crop up as manufacturers and vendors collaborate on designs that
require ongoing updates from engineers using various software tools.
It involves using a Web site where an engineering project and its
information reside, thus allowing engineers to access updates and
changes in real-time. Scott Washburn, director of marketing for
Aviatis, called it the first use of a Web-based solution to solve such
engineering dilemmas.

LiveDoc, which targets designers of embedded automotive electronics,
will debut at Convergence 2000 in Detroit.

The key to the system is its use of server software that enables
engineers to make changes and revisions while working inside their
company's "firewall." The server software employs a piece of Java code
that runs inside the user's browser but does not talk to the Web site,
which is run by Aviatis (Campbell, Calif.). Users communicate securely
through an Aviatis server inside the company's firewall.

"The analogy is 'my Yahoo,' which takes user information over the Web
and then gives access to distributed information," said Johannes
Ernst, founder and chief executive officer of Aviatis.

Users of LiveDoc get an account on the Aviatis Web site that they must
log on to with each use. The Web site authenticates each user, then
acts as a delivery mechanism for a piece of Java code that runs inside
the user's browser. Users work within that browser, which resides in
the server at their own site. As a result, their work never goes onto
the Web, but is still accessible to other users through the Internet.
"The piece of Java code does not talk to our Aviatis Web site," Ernst
said. "It talks only to the server software, which stays behind their
firewall."

Ernst said he developed the idea while working at BMW and later honed
the concept at Wind River Systems.

The company's founders say that LiveDoc lets product developers in
different locations concurrently share such information as models,
schematics, specifications, algorithms and test results. It also lets
them integrate control system applications from companies like The
MathWorks, Wind River and ETAS.

The system's developers say it will be particularly useful for
designers of automotive control modules and other embedded
electronics. Engine control modules, they say, often require input
from the automaker, the primary hardware manufacturer and four or five
hardware and software suppliers. Often, such projects can involve as
many as 1,000 engineers and two or three years of work. "Engineers on
projects like those spend 35 percent to 40 percent of their time just
disseminating information," said Washburn.

Engineering design experts say that the problem is getting bigger as
electronic systems grow in complexity. "On projects as big as that,
the question is always: How do I recognize when someone else is making
a change?" said Klaus Mueller-Glaser, professor of electrical
engineering at the University of Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, Germany). "And
if a change has been made, how do I get access to it?"

Aviatis founders hope that their technique, which costs $199 per month
per user, offers a solution because it puts information up in a
central location, but doesn't allow outside access to it, as an
ordinary Web site would. "For most companies, the problem is getting
worse with each passing year," Ernst said. "And it's not going to go
away until people develop some new technology to address it."

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