Optical Solutions
(Telecommunications)
Contact:
Embarcadero Technologies, Inc.
425 Market Street, Suite 425
San Francisco, CA 94105
www.embarcadero.com
Tools Used:
Embarcadero’s Describe
Description:
Optical Solutions designs, manufactures, and markets the
only true Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) Passive Optical Network (PON), for
voice, video and data to Service Providers worldwide.
Problem:
Software in Optical Solutions' products is embedded, and
because it operates behind-the-scenes, customers expect it to work
hassle-free. Technical Staff Member Dan Oelke and his colleagues at
Optical Solutions therefore had to quickly develop flawless,
easy-to-maintain software, and knew that using a UML tool would help
them achieve that.
"UML gives us a common design language that all our
developers can use," Oelke explained. "Like many
organizations, we add engineers at a fast pace, and therefore, need to
bring them up to speed so they can be productive as soon as possible.
The ability to generate code, especially with our enhancements, has
allowed the engineers who are not OO wizards to learn more
quickly."
Optical Solutions also recognized a huge opportunity in
adopting UML. The embedded software industry has been slower in
accepting of OO, primarily because of the potential additional costs to
the end product that extra software could entail. "We definitely
wanted to capitalize on that resistance, and gain an advantage over our
competition. We knew UML could really help us get our products to market
faster, and help us win the time-to-market game," Oelke said.
Solution:
Oelke considered several other UML tools before
selecting Describe. The ability to modify Perl scripts for code and
report generation was a key requirement for him. Keeping the code clean
was also important.
Oelke knew it would save the developers significant time
if they could all work together and reference one another's work. The
multi-user collaborative environment of Describe allows them to do so,
and the developers now rely heavily on it. When Optical Solutions first
began using Describe, only a few developers incorporated it into their
development efforts. Now, more than 20 developers use Describe daily.
"Team support is, for us, the single best feature of Describe. It
allows us to work well together - a huge timesaver. We absolutely love
it," Oelke said.
Oelke has also been very pleased with Embarcadero
Technical Support, and enjoys the one-on-one, customer focus on which
the company prides itself. "Whenever I email in or call in, I get
someone who knows and understands my application. I don't have to
re-explain myself, which can be a waste of time, and very
frustrating."
Optical Solutions has made a name for itself as the only
company with a complete fiber-delivered voice, video and data solution
that's proven and operating in the field, and Oelke and his team will
continue to use Describe as the company grows and develops new products.
"Describe is such an integral part of our development efforts now
that I can't imagine developing software without it," he concluded.
Return
to Success Story list
| 
