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Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Selects Progress(R) FUSE(TM) as SWIM Segment 1 Foundation for FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System

Jul 29, 2009
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Selects Progress(R) FUSE(TM) as SWIM Segment 1 Foundation for FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation SystemBEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 29, 2009-- Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), a global provider of application infrastructure software used to develop, deploy, integrate and manage business applications, today announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) selected Progress® FUSE™ products to provide the open source integration underpinnings for their System Wide Information Management (SWIM) Program. The selection of FUSE open source products allows the SWIM program to interoperate with many other existing vendor technologies already in use by the FAA.

The SWIM Segment 1 program (www.swim.gov) comprises seven SWIM Implementing Programs (SIPs) that manage weather and flight data, as well as aeronautical and National Airspace System (NAS) status information, and seamlessly and securely provides it to NAS users in a well-understood format. The FUSE technologies will play the role of "Middleware Mediator" in the FAA’s existing infrastructure.

One of the most difficult challenges facing the FAA when integrating their enterprise information systems is the use of disparate technologies, products and standards among their legacy heterogeneous systems. Following an extensive review of vendors and their offerings, the FAA chose FUSE because of its ability to easily "plug-and-play" into the FAA’s IT infrastructure, and to accommodate different standards for service oriented architectures (e.g., JBI, Web services).

Progress Software’s FUSE products are tested and certified releases of leading SOA Open Source projects of the Apache Software Foundation. A key factor in the FAA’s decision to implement FUSE was the flexibility of being able to deploy the FUSE solutions with other commercial products.

The Federal Government has invested in multiple generations of technology but remains under pressure to deliver more products and services with its existing infrastructure. They cannot ‘rip and replace’ all systems, instead they have to find ways to streamline existing installations without causing any disruption. The FAA chose Progress Software because of its ability to ensure interoperability between new and legacy systems, which nicely supports their incremental adoption process.

Another key factor in the FAA’s decision to select Progress Software, other than the technical and economic reasons, was Progress' ability to deliver open source solutions backed by a comprehensive support services division. Open Source and SOA are both relatively new concepts to large parts of the FAA’s IT organization, and the FAA will rely on Progress Professional Services to assist with this formidable education challenge. The Progress Education Department is currently delivering a variety of training measures at various FAA locations, tailored to the specific needs of the participating SIPs.

Stephen D. Hendrick, Group Vice President, Application Development and Deployment at IDC, said: "As enterprises seek to optimize their operations for both flexibility and cost effectiveness, they are finding many more options and deployment models now available to them, including an increasing amount of service-based and open source solutions. Ensuring these options can integrate with and extend upon current systems is critical for today's demanding needs and to extract more value from existing investments, however it is also important to make sure these solutions provide a strong foundation with key vendor support to help prepare and move into the future."

Ken Rugg, general manager vice president of products, Progress Software, noted: “We are responding to market demand for feature-rich functionality and mission critical support through the integration of open source and commercial SOA solutions. We are offering unprecedented flexibility to mission critical integration infrastructure by providing an architecture that gives IT organizations a choice between the best of two worlds -- Open Source and traditional open integration infrastructure solutions.”

About Progress Software Corporation

Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) provides application infrastructure software for the development, deployment, integration and management of business applications. Our goal is to maximize the benefits of information technology while minimizing its complexity and total cost of ownership. Progress can be reached at www.progress.com or +1-781-280-4000.

FUSE and Progress are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation or one of its affiliates or subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Source: Progress Software Corporation

Progress Software
Lisa Coulouris, +1 781-280-4995
lcoulour@progress.com
or
LEWIS PR
Rich Young, +1 617-226-8842
progresssoftware@lewispr.com