PARIS, BATH and NEW YORK, July 27th, 2010 – The company secunet Security Networks AG, one of Germany’s largest IT security providers, announced today that it has adopted the SPARK Pro development environment. SPARK Pro, a Freely Licensed Open Source Software (FLOSS) product created by AdaCore and Altran Praxis, will be used by secunet as a strategic technology to build highly robust security-critical applications.

The first secunet project to apply SPARK Pro will be the Multilevel Workstation, an interactive system for concurrently handling information of different security domains. To maintain confidentiality and integrity of all processed data, Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) are enforced on a single hardware platform.

SPARK Pro was chosen by secunet because it was the only mature and commercially supported environment suiting the requirements for developing security-critical applications for secunet’s multi-level products. Moreover, SPARK Pro’s formal verification techniques provide the foundation necessary for achieving stringent high-robustness certifications of secunet’s multi-level systems.

SPARK Pro was launched in 2009 by Altran Praxis, an international specialist in embedded and critical systems engineering, and AdaCore, the leading provider of commercial software solutions for the Ada language. SPARK Pro provides the foremost language, toolset and design discipline for engineering high-assurance software. It combines Altran Praxis’ renowned SPARK language and verification tools with the GNAT Programming Studio (GPS) and GNATbench development environments by AdaCore.

SPARK Pro provides increased support for security assurance, including the ability to mix software of different security levels (such as classified and unclassified) within the same system. This MILS functionality meets an increasing trend in the security and defense industries to combine multiple secure and non-secure elements into a single partitioned system to deliver smaller, more integrated solutions.

“For the security-critical parts of our workstation we needed a formal verification technique that was as mature as manageable in a large-scale project,” said Alexander Senier, project manager of secunet’s Multilevel Workstation. “SPARK Pro was the only solution that met our requirements, combining trustworthy development tools with excellent support provided directly by the experts. As a strategically important technology SPARK Pro enables us to further enhance the security, certifiability and flexibility of our future high-security solutions.”

Founded in 1997, secunet is one of Germany’s leading providers of superior IT security. Working with its customers – enterprises, public authorities and international organizations – secunet develops and implements high-performance products and state-of-the-art IT security solutions. At secunet, more than 270 experts focus on issues such as cryptography (SINA), e-government, business and automotive security.

“There is an increasing need for writing complex software that meets the highest standards of security. To fully answer this emerging requirement, one needs a state-of-the-art development environment that provides a way to formally verify security properties of the code,” said Cyrille Comar, Managing Director, AdaCore. “AdaCore and Altran Praxis have combined the best of their technology and expertise to answer this need through the product SPARK Pro. We are very pleased to see customers with such demanding requirements as secunet adopting it.”

“The ability to meet multiple levels of certification within the same application is increasingly critical to the successful deployment of complex projects,” said Keith Williams, Altran Praxis Managing Director. “As secunet is demonstrating, SPARK Pro provides the perfect solution for those developing advanced high-security software across the globe. We are delighted to be helping secunet with the development of this important new product line.”

Designed by Altran Praxis, SPARK is a language specifically designed to support the development of software used in applications where correct operation is vital for reasons of safety, security, or both. The SPARK toolset offers static verification that is unrivalled in terms of its soundness, low false-alarm rate, depth and efficiency. The toolset also generates evidence for correctness that can be used to build a constructive assurance case in line with the requirements of industry regulators and certification schemes. There are versions of SPARK based on Ada 83, Ada 95, and Ada 2005, so all standard Ada compilers and tools work out-of-the-box with SPARK.

Press Contacts
press@adacore.com

Leena Chauhan
Altran Praxis
leena.chauhan@altran-praxis.com

PARIS and NEW YORK, May 4, 2010 – AdaCore, together with Altran Praxis, CEA LIST, Astrium Space Transportation, INRIA ProVal and Thales Communications today announced the start of the Hi-Lite project. Financially supported by French national and local government agencies, Hi-Lite is an Open Source project designed to increase the use of formal methods in developing high integrity software, particularly to meet the forthcoming DO-178C avionics standard. It will achieve this by building tools that are simpler, more powerful and easier to use.

Hi-Lite will bring together the strengths of the project partners to create formal verification tools for both the Ada and C languages. These will enable code verification at a deeper level than current solutions and reduce the need for time-consuming and costly physical testing of high integrity software solutions. The €3.9 million ($5.3 million) project is scheduled to last three years.

The project builds on the existing ten year experience of Airbus in using formal verification methods to create high integrity systems, and is strongly driven by the criteria that Airbus’s work has generated: soundness, applicability to the code, usability by “normal” engineers on “normal” computers, improvement on classical methods, and certifiability.

The project is structured as two different tool chains for Ada and C. AdaCore will lead the project and contribute its expertise in the Ada language, including the GNAT compiler and CodePeer static analyser, with Altran Praxis providing its Ada-based SPARK verification toolset. The C toolchain will use the GCC compiler and CEA’s Frama-C platform. Both toolchains will be integrated within AdaCore’s IDEs.

Astrium Space Transportation will demonstrate the method and tools by deploying them on a major project to redevelop the software systems of its Automated Transfer Vehicle, aiming to prove the advantages of formal verification. Thales Communications will also use the project tools across its component-based middleware solution, adding the ability to automate the verification of generated code by using Hi-Lite annotation language.

By defining a common language of annotation for testing, static analysis and formal proofs, Hi-Lite will allow industries to switch gradually from an all testing policy to a faster and more cost-effective use of verification methods. It loosely integrates formal proofs with testing and static analysis, thus allowing projects to combine different techniques around a common expression of properties and constraints.

The Hi-Lite project is primarily driven by the planned Formal Methods Technology Supplement of the DO-178C avionics standard. For the first time, this allows formal verification tools to replace physical testing when applying for system certification. As well as aerospace and defense, the products created through Hi-Lite aim to make formal verification available and easier to use across more industries, such as medical and automotive.

For more information and regular updates on the Hi-Lite project visit http://www.open-do.org/projects/hi-lite

Quotes from the Hi-Lite project partners

“As high integrity systems get larger and more complex, formal methods provide a cost-effective solution that decreases the need for testing and speeds up project completion,” said Arnaud Charlet, Hi-Lite Project Leader of AdaCore. “Working with the Hi-Lite project partners, we aim to make formal verification faster and easier to use across large, multi-language projects that need to meet certification criteria, such as the forthcoming DO-178C standard.”

“Altran Praxis are delighted to be involved in Hi-Lite. We look forward to the project bringing the advantages of formal verification and the SPARK approach to a wider audience in the software development community,” said Keith Williams, Altran Praxis Managing Director.

“CEA-LIST will provide its expertise on the Frama-C platform for the formal proof of C-based software. We will work on connecting the Ada and C parts of the specifications and proofs,” said Loïc Correnson, leader of the Frama-C team at CEA-LIST. “Indeed, as a co-author of the ACSL specification language, we will participate in the elaboration of the specification language(s) in the project.”

“The ProVal Team at the INRIA Saclay research center is pleased to be a member of the Hi-Lite project,” said Claude Marché, Senior Research Scientist at INRIA. “We will provide expertise in automated reasoning and needed improvements in the Why/Alt-Ergo deductive verification tool-chain.”

About AdaCore
Founded in 1994, AdaCore is the leading provider of commercial software solutions for Ada, a state-of-the-art programming language designed for large, long-lived applications where safety, security, and reliability are critical. AdaCore’s flagship product is the GNAT Pro development environment, which comes with expert on-line support and is available on more platforms than any other Ada technology. AdaCore has an extensive world-wide customer base; see http://www.adacore.com/home/company/customers/ for further information.

Ada and GNAT Pro see a growing usage in high-integrity and safety-certified applications, including commercial aircraft avionics, military systems, air traffic management/control, railroad systems, and medical devices, and in security-sensitive domains such as financial services.

AdaCore has North American headquarters in New York and European headquarters in Paris. www.adacore.com

NEW YORK and SAN JOSE, Calif. – April 27, 2010 – Embedded Systems Conference – AdaCore, a leading supplier of Ada development tools and support services, today announced the selection of SPARK Pro by Rockwell Collins for use on selected projects that have stringent security and information assurance requirements. Rockwell Collins chose SPARK Pro for several reasons, including:

• previous SPARK development experience where the use of SPARK clearly reduced defects, shortened integration time, and aided certification,
• integrated SPARK toolset support provided in the GNATbench and GNAT Programming Studio (GPS) Interactive Development Environments (IDEs),
• SPARK support access using AdaCore’s “GNAT Tracker” system, including direct access to the SPARK developers and experts at Altran Praxis, and
• AdaCore’s customer friendly license and support subscription model.

SPARK Pro comprises the proven SPARK language toolset developed by Altran Praxis integrated into AdaCore’s GNAT Pro Ada development environment. The SPARK language supports the correctness-by-construction methodology (C-by-C) through which developers can create software and prove that it correctly implements system requirements. SPARK Pro is a natural solution for safety-critical and high-security programs, where failure could lead to catastrophic consequences.

A major factor in Rockwell Collins’ selection of SPARK Pro was their successful past experience both with the SPARK language and toolset from Altran Praxis and with AdaCore. Rockwell Collins has been using GNAT Pro on a number of projects, and they have found AdaCore’s support services, including the GNAT Tracker web interface, especially valuable. GNAT Tracker provides customers with on-line access to all products and associated documentation purchased, via a simple web interface. Engineers may report problems or ask questions; each report is automatically sent to the AdaCore product development team, ensuring fast and accurate responses. After submitting a report, the customer can use the associated ticket number to view questions and responses and to track the full history of the reported issue.

“Our subscription model encourages customers to contact us as often and frequently as they need,” said Robert Dewar, AdaCore President and CEO. “Our partnership with Altran Praxis allows us to extend this same service to SPARK Pro. SPARK Pro users, such as Rockwell Collins, will benefit from Altran Praxis’s experience with formal methods and the SPARK language, coupled with AdaCore’s support infrastructure, Ada language expertise and tool support.”

The SPARK toolset performs static (before run time) verification that is unrivalled in terms of its soundness, low false-alarm rate, depth, and efficiency. The toolset also generates evidence for correctness that can be used to build a constructive assurance case to meet the requirements of industry regulators and certification schemes. SPARK checks for deep and subtle bugs, including run-time errors such as buffer overflow and arithmetic overflow, and can even verify that application-specific safety and security properties are not violated. The latest release of SPARK Pro, V9.0, includes a number of enhancements, including new information-flow verification for safety and security, a new tool that detects unreachable code, and a new SPARK 2005 language profile.

About Altran Praxis
Altran Praxis is a specialist systems and software house, focused on the engineering of systems with demanding safety, security or innovation requirements. Altran Praxis leads the world in specific areas of advanced systems engineering and innovation such as: ultra low defect software engineering, Human Machine Interface (HMI), safety engineering for complex or novel systems and tools (such as SPARK) /methods for systems engineering. It offers clients a range of services including turnkey systems development, consultancy, training and R&D. Key market sectors are aerospace and defence, rail, nuclear, air traffic management, automotive, medical and security. The company operates globally with active projects in the US, Asia and Europe. The headquarters of Altran Praxis are in Bath (UK) with offices in Sophia Antipolis, London, Paris, Loughborough and Bangalore. Altran Praxis is an expertise centre within, and wholly owned by, Altran which is a global leader in innovation engineering and employs 18,000 staff across the world. www.altran-praxis.com

About AdaCore
Founded in 1994, AdaCore is the leading provider of commercial software solutions for Ada, a state-of-the-art programming language designed for large, long-lived applications where safety, security, and reliability are critical. AdaCore’s flagship product is the GNAT Pro development environment, which comes with expert on-line support and is available on more platforms than any other Ada technology. AdaCore has an extensive world-wide customer base; see http://www.adacore.com/home/company/customers/ for further information.

Ada and GNAT Pro see a growing usage in high-integrity and safety-certified applications, including commercial aircraft avionics, military systems, air traffic management/control, railroad systems, and medical devices, and in security-sensitive domains such as financial services.

AdaCore has North American headquarters in New York and European headquarters in Paris. www.adacore.com

Press Contacts
press@adacore.com

NEW YORK, PARIS and SAN JOSE, Calif., April 27, 2010 – Embedded Systems Conference – AdaCore, a leading supplier of Ada development tools and support services, today announced the first major release of its GNAT Pro High-Integrity Edition for MILS. The High-Integrity Edition for MILS (Multiple Independent Levels of Security) product is a specialized security application development environment supporting the creation and security certification of applications at the high end for EALs (Evaluation Assurance Levels) 5 through 7, as well as applications at the lower bounds for EALs 1 through 4. This product contains several specialized run-time libraries that support different levels of certification, specialized tools to support security certification, and, as an option, the SPARK language tool set to facilitate both development and certification of applications to top security levels.

GNAT Pro High-Integrity Edition for MILS contains the GNAT Pro development environment with compile system, testing tools, and graphical user interface components, to support high-productivity software development. It provides specialized run-time libraries, corresponding to Ada language subsets for those features that can be certified to different EALs. For EALs 1-3, the High-Integrity Edition for MILS provides a full Ada run-time library and development environment for the creation and testing required for these lower-level security certification requirements. For EAL 4, it provides a Ravenscar-compliant run-time library originally created to be certifiable to the DO-178B airborne avionics safety standard. This safety standard has been shown to meet the security assurance requirements for EAL 4. Finally, the Zero Foot Print (ZFP) run-time library is provided, which supports security certification to EALs 5 through 7.

Security certification at EALs 5-7 requires semi-formal or formal approaches. General software application languages are typically not appropriate at these levels. As an option, GNAT Pro High-Integrity Edition for MILS provides the SPARK Pro tool set to support these top levels. The SPARK language is a fully deterministic and verifiable subset of the Ada programming language augmented by pre- and post-condition constructs that more fully specify the application’s logic and information flow. SPARK and the SPARK Pro tool set have been demonstrated in practice to meet the requirements for top security application development. The High-Integrity Edition for MILS thus provides a complete environment for applications that need to be certified at EALs 5-7.

“AdaCore has a long history in providing solutions for developers of high-integrity applications,” said Robert Dewar, President and CEO of AdaCore. “GNAT Pro has been used for avionics systems on aircraft, such as the new Boeing 787, which need to meet the highest level of safety requirements in DO-178B. Developers of high-security applications require the more stringent security objectives be met. To satisfy this need, we have introduced the GNAT Pro High-Integrity Edition for MILS. This product, integrated with the SPARK Pro language and tool set, offers a unique security solution, allowing developers using a MILS architecture to create and certify applications that can meet all EALs from lowest to highest.”

“Wind River VxWorks MILS platform provides a robust MILS architecture, enabling the creation of MLS (Multi-Level Secure) systems in which multiple applications from different domains execute securely on a single instance of silicon,” said Chip Downing, Director of Aerospace and Defense at Wind River. “GNAT Pro High-Integrity Edition for MILS adds the capability to accelerate the certification of Ada applications at high assurance levels on the VxWorks MILS foundation for a very powerful combination for developing secure applications.”

Availability
GNAT Pro High-Integrity Edition for MILS is available today for the VxWorks MILS Platform.

About AdaCore
Founded in 1994, AdaCore is the leading provider of commercial software solutions for Ada, a state-of-the-art programming language designed for large, long-lived applications where safety, security, and reliability are critical. AdaCore’s flagship product is the GNAT Pro development environment, which comes with expert on-line support and is available on more platforms than any other Ada technology. AdaCore has an extensive world-wide customer base; see http://www.adacore.com/home/company/customers/ for further information.

Ada and GNAT Pro continue to see a growing usage in high-integrity and safety-certified applications, including commercial aircraft avionics, military systems, air traffic management/control, railroad systems, and medical devices, and in security-sensitive domains such as financial services.

AdaCore has North American headquarters in New York and European headquarters in Paris. www.adacore.com

Press Contacts
press@adacore.com

This is a major release including many new features:

• New information-flow verification for safety and security policies, such as Bell-LaPadula, based on integrity labeling of own variables.
• New SPARK2005 language profile is now available. At present, basic Ada2005 features supported include ‘Mod, ‘Machine_Rounding, new reserved words, and the static semantics of “overriding”.
• New ZombieScope tool that detects dead statements, branches and paths in SPARK code, complementing the capabilities of the Simplifier and POGS.
• Cross Referencing annotations in GPS.
• Function return annotations are now treated more like procedure post-conditions, being substituted into the VC hypotheses of the caller thus dramatically improving the effectiveness of the theorem prover.
• A new output format for POGS designed to be both easier to read and easier to search automatically. It also reflects the results of the new ZombieScope tool.
• Case checking. New Examiner switch that insists on consistent casing within annotations.

• Building enhancements
• Specify multiple toolchains per project
• Building without the ‘make’ utility
• Support for the make package
• Interruptible commands
• Better toolchain environment integration
• Navigation enhancements
• Navigation between specs and bodies without compilation
• Navigation between Ada specs & C/C++ bodies
• Jump from GNAT project explorer entities
• New commands and tool integrations
• Metrics
• Pretty printing
• Style checking
• Better project management
• Single project creation wizard
• Project conversion wizard
• Improved ease of use
• SPARK “notes” messages categorized in problems view
• Improved contextual menus
• Advanced references search

New GNAT Pro 6.3 features include:

• Support for 64-bit code generation on Windows
• Support for Windows 7
• Improvements to a number of tools, including:
• Pretty printer (gnatpp)
• Coding standard verifier (GNATcheck)
• Stack size analyzer (GNATstack)
• Other tool enhancements:
• Unused dispatching subprogram elimination (gnatelim)
• More flexible project handling
• More efficient gnatmake and gprbuild
• C and C++ binding generation
• Compiler and debugger enhancements, including:
• Many additional warnings
• More flexible enabling/disabling of warnings
• Faster Unbounded_String implementation
• Removal of redundant run-time checks
• Support for Ada 2012 conditional expressions
• Code generation (speed and size) improvements
• More compact debugging information
• Improved interfacing with C++
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