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GD News Virtutech Simics Deployed by General Dynamics C4 Systems for NASA GLAST Project

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Virtutech, Inc., the leading provider of virtualized software development solutions for advanced electronic systems, today announced that General Dynamics C4 Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), has deployed Virtutech Simics to develop and test mission-critical embedded flight software for the NASA Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) project. Virtutech Simics simulates the spacecraft hardware to create a robust training tool for the GLAST mission operations team to prepare for normal spacecraft operations. By injecting faults in the simulated flight hardware, the mission operations team can implement efficient responses to possible failures or anomalies in the actual system prior to the launch, which provides comprehensive training opportunities and invaluable insight into the activities of the real system long before the actual hardware arrives.

Virtutech Simics provides a virtualized software development environment, minimizing the need to build multiple multi-million dollar test models of real flight hardware. Using Virtutech Simics, General Dynamics simulates satellite processors and other spacecraft avionics hardware so that the flight software cannot detect the difference from running on real production hardware. With simulation, developers have full control over the code for extensive and thorough testing.

“As software becomes more complex for mission-critical systems, it is essential to look at innovative techniques that meet today’s rigorous development standards,” said John Lambert, president and CEO of Virtutech. “Virtutech Simics provides the only way to create a comprehensive test platform that can easily scale across the whole project to meet the needs of all parties involved, while also providing testing capabilities beyond those in real hardware.”

About Virtutech

Virtutech, Inc. is the leading provider of full-system simulation for advanced software development. Virtutech’s Simics is a revolutionary, award-winning simulator that provides a programmer-friendly environment for testing and debugging embedded software. Simics eliminates software developers’ dependence on test hardware and drives concurrent development, enabling its customers to lower capital expenditure, accelerate time to market and reduce project risk. Based on more than a decade of R&D and close collaboration with leading universities and systems vendors, Virtutech’s technology serves the needs of the world’s leading technology providers, including Cisco, EMC, Ericsson, Honeywell, IBM and Sun Microsystems.

Virtutech is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. For more information, visit www.virtutech.com.