We discussed in a blog earlier this week the growing reliance on software components to provide differentiation in the automotive vertical market. It is a trend that can be witnessed across a wide range of embedded industries and as a result, software volume and complexity is expanding rapidly. With these changes comes a growing appreciation for the value proposition of commercial software tools to manage the challenges borne by software development. The introduction of formal tooling to lessen the reliance on hand-coding and in-house developed tools is a strategy used by more and more organizations to address their development needs.

Utilizing tools (e.g. UML/SDL, HMI, modeling/simulation tools, etc.) to automatically generate portions of software code is a strategy increasingly used as an effective hedge against the missed project deadlines in the face of rapidly increasing code volumes. In fact, developers in several verticals such as telecom, automotive, and aerospace & defense now generate over a fifth of the code created in-house through the use of software modeling tools. With no end in sight for the growth of code bases (nor any likelihood project deadlines become more generous), expect this approach to become more widespread. Furthermore, providing a code generator qualified across a number of software safety certification standards is an increasingly important differentiator for solutions targeting industries with process or safety standards to guide or regulate software.

More insight

For further investigation and discussion about this and other emerging trends in the software and system modeling tool landscape, as well as other important shifts in systems lifecycle management, please see our 2013 Software & Systems Lifecycle Management Tools Market Intelligence Service. The first volume of this series, which focuses on modeling tools, will be available soon.