Press Release

TIBCO Software Selected by NASA to Provide Real-Time Communication And Integration Capability for X-38 Crew Return Vehicle

By SpaceRef Editor
March 19, 2002
Filed under , ,

TIBCO ActiveEnterprise Enables NASA’s Ground Control System to Provide Command And Telemetry Interfaces for X-38 Project

TIBCO Software Inc. today announced the successful
implementation of TIBCO ActiveEnterprise(TM) by NASA, to improve research,
development and test processes for NASA’s X-38 ground communication system
project. The project provides command and telemetry interfaces to The Crew
Return Vehicle, commonly known as the X-38.

With technologies that blaze a trail for future spacecraft development,
NASA’s X-38 Project is developing a prototype for a rescue vehicle that will
provide astronauts on the International Space Station an immediate return trip
home in the event of an emergency. The X-38 will serve as both an ambulance
for medical emergencies and as an evacuation vehicle. NASA’s X-38 Project
consists of a number of flight test vehicles and a large group of end-users
including engineering, operations and software development. The TIBCO solution
enables NASA project engineers to perform tests on the X-38 experimental
vehicles through the delivery of commands to the vehicle and receipt of
transmitted measurement and informational data, which is then processed and
recorded for analysis.

“Of the third-party products we’ve used, TIBCO ActiveEnterprise has been
the smoothest integration we’ve completed,” said Steve Rader, NASA X-38 ground
systems development engineer. “TIBCO ActiveEnterprise’s real-time messaging
ensures better service to X-38 ground systems control by eliminating the
massive amount of workflow involved in making a display and by eliminating
redundancy across the network. The flexibility of design, open API
architecture and decentralized server will enable us to easily modify the
system as we grow and expand the project.”

The TIBCO Solution

NASA engineers required integration of legacy and new applications with
their messaging infrastructure without changing existing software code. NASA
X-38 project engineers were faced with the challenge of designing a ground
control system that would integrate the constant flow of new content and
services into its messaging infrastructure without overhauling current code.
At the same time, they needed a solution that would aggregate content from
multiple applications and operating systems, and distribute it to each
experimental vehicle in the project.

Any systems infrastructure is only as strong as its foundation — the
messaging system. The most basic requirement of application-to-application
integration is the movement of data between systems, enabling disparate
applications to communicate. As the foundation, the messaging technology must
be efficient, reliable, scalable and flexible. TIBCO’s messaging software,
TIBCO Rendezvous(TM), a member of the TIBCO ActiveEnterprise family,
integrates information across multiple applications and operating systems by
providing a single flow of data that is automatically directed to each
relevant area of the X-38 Project.

TIBCO ActiveEnterprise’s multi-use capabilities, increased flexibility and
decentralized server reduces the amount of time needed to process information,
facilitates real-time data access and demonstrates a concrete cost-savings
equivalent to that of multiple NASA developers.

“NASA needed a solution that allowed tests to be performed on X-38
experimental vehicles using a ground communication system to deliver commands
to the vehicle, receive telemetry, process data and record the results,” said
Murat Sonmez, senior vice president of marketing for TIBCO Software. “TIBCO
ActiveEnterprise enabled NASA ground control system to go live with its first
X-38 experimental vehicle within four weeks of implementation and delivered a
solution that will scale over time as the project grows.”

About TIBCO Government

The TIBCO Government practice, located in Bethesda, Maryland, provides
integration software to the federal, state and local government markets, and
expands TIBCO’s reach into public-sector organizations, such as military and
other government-funded agencies. TIBCO Government customers include the US
Navy, University of Maryland, Department of Defense, Los Angeles City Fire
Department, and NASA.

About TIBCO Software Inc.

TIBCO Software Inc. is a leading provider of total business integration
solutions delivering infrastructure software that enables businesses to
seamlessly integrate business systems in real-time. TIBCO technology was first
used to digitize Wall Street and has since been adopted in diverse industries
including financial services, telecommunications, electronic commerce,
transportation, logistics, manufacturing and energy. TIBCO’s global customer
base includes 1,400 customers such as NEC, Dynegy, BP, eBay, US Bank, The
Limited, Delta Air Lines, Philips, AT&T and Pirelli, Yahoo! and Cisco Systems.
Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, TIBCO can be reached at 650-846-1000
or on the web at www.tibco.com.

NOTE:
TIBCO, the TIBCO logo, The Power of Now, TIBCO Software, TIBCO
ActiveEnterprise and TIBCO Rendezvous are trademarks or registered trademarks
of TIBCO Software Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.
All other
product and company names and marks mentioned in this document are the
property of their respective owners and are mentioned for identification
purposes only.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
This release contains
forward-looking statements regarding TIBCO’s business, customers, markets
served or other factors including the ability of products to meet customers’
expectations, needs, or perform as described that may affect future earnings
or financial results. Our actual results could differ materially from such
forward-looking statements. Reasons for why actual results could differ
materially include if the products are unable to successfully meet customers’
expectations, needs, or perform as described. Additional information
concerning factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially
from those contained in the forward-looking statements can be found in TIBCO
Software’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”),
including but not limited to its most recent reports on Forms 10-Q and 10-K
filed with the SEC on October 5, 2001 and January 30, 2002, respectively,
which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to
differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements including
limited independent operating history, history of losses, unpredictability of
future revenue, dependence on a limited number of customers, relationship with
Reuters Group PLC, rapid technological and market changes, risks associated
with infrastructure software and volatility of stock price. Copies of filings
made with the SEC are available through the SEC’s electronic data gather
analysis and retrieval system (EDGAR) at www.sec.gov.
TIBCO assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements included
in this document.

SpaceRef staff editor.