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Aonix > Products > Ameos >

Ameos - The Next Generation Modeling Tool

Ameos UML Technology is now available as Open Source

In early 2007, Aonix decided to release the Ameos source code to the public. OpenAmeos is the open source version of the Ameos UML modeling product. (See Press Release for additional information.)

Under the terms of the Ameos open source agreement, a "clean" open source version of Ameos, called OpenAmeos, has been created to ensure that anyone installing a new version of OpenAmeos will be able to use it freely without encumbrances of any other source contributions. Any company or academic institution who wants to distribute OpenAmeos source code is required to also make their changes to the source code freely available to others in order to ensure the continuing open evolution of OpenAmeos

Ameos combines UML 2.0 Profile support, MDA^® based Model Transformation and the usage of color in a unique fashion. This ensures a higher level of abstraction in the models and target-independent modeling.

UML Support

By implementing the current UML¨ standard Ameos can be used to describe business processes, to design architectures for SW systems and to model dynamic aspects in State Machines with hard timing constraints. The Model management of the UML is an integrated part of Ameos and allows distributed working, private workspaces and the configuration of new versions. The Ameos Multi-User Repository ensures an appropriate scaling even in large projects.

UML 2.0 Profile Support

Profiles are an easy way to extend standard UML notation and to adapt it to project-specific needs. UML 2.0 describes Profiles and defines how to model them in UML notation. The Ameos Profile Editor allows stereotypes and tagged values to be defined and assigned to model elements of the UML Metamodel, ensuring that profiles are well designed, documented and easy to use for the entire project team.

Color to visualize Semantics

Within Ameos, color can be assigned to UML Profiles and to Model Elements. Wherever such a Model Element is referenced, it shows up in the assigned color. This usage of color on a semantic level, lead to UML models which are far easier to read.

Architecture (MDA) Development

ACD^™ is a powerful Transformation Engine, based on OMG's Model Driven Architecture^®. (MDA). The idea behind it is to separate the technical aspects from the domain aspects in the UML. model and generate code from WYSIWYG templates. The main MDA benefits as stated by the OMG are:

Reducing costs of development
Better quality, better ROI
Much faster use of new technologies
Better re-use of domain aspect

Why is transformation of UML Models necessary?

Today many systems are described graphically using the UML which provides several diagram types as well as many graphical and textual elements to capture and model the requirements of a system. While this enables a greater understanding of the user and system requirements, only a small amount of these model elements are typically realized in the implemented system as source code. This leads to models which are constructed to achieve maximum code generation, rather than accurately representing the business or user requirements in a maintainable way. Instead of having a Business Model, this will result in an Implementation Model, which is difficult to read and difficult to maintain. Any change of the target technology or middleware will break the model. The separation of the technical and domain aspects of modeling improves the clarity and reuse opportunities for both these aspects of the design.

Model Driven Architecture

OMG's Model Driven Architecture, a more sophisticated way of using the UML, provides a solution to this kind of problem. Using MDA, the business is modeled in Platform Independent Models (PIM) which are transformed into Platform Specific Models (PSM). This is carried out in a manner analogous to the use of a compiler to transform C++ or Java source code into an executable program. MDA is not a revolution, but evolution using the next level of abstraction.

As a member of the OMG, Aonix has promoted the idea of transforming UML models to the target environment using Ameos/ACD for the past several years. As a result we have a lot of experience with this approach and many satisfied customers in various industries.

Ameos is available for Linux, Solaris (SPARC), and Windows (2000, XP).