Established in 1989, the OMG was formed to create a component-based software marketplace by hastening the introduction of standardized object software.

"We are pleased to welcome Altair Aerospace Corporation to the Object Management Group," commented Richard Soley, the OMG's chairman and CEO. "We are especially pleased with the initiative that Altair has taken to involve the space industry in the OMG's standards process.

The space industry will certainly benefit from utilizing the OMG's open, rapid, vendor-neutral process to standardize the way industry-specific software communicates.

Altair's efforts to bring the space industry into the OMG's process will help the industry to integrate distributed, enterprise-wide applications through CORBA, IIOP and other OMG specifications."

The OMG's charter includes the establishment of industry guidelines and detailed object management specifications to provide a common framework for application development.

Conformance to these specifications will make it possible to develop a heterogeneous computing environment across all major hardware platforms and operating systems.

Implementations of OMG specifications can be found on many operating systems across the world today. OMG's series of specifications detail the necessary standard interfaces for Distributed Object Computing.

The Space, Satellite and Ground System Group within the OMG will build upon the work accomplished by the joint industry-government Space Object Technology Group (SOTG).

The SOTG was formed in 1998 with sponsorship from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the National Reconnaissance Office. Altair was a founding member along with CSC and Raytheon Systems Company.

The purpose of SOTG is to establish industry standards for object-oriented software to be used in the space industry to enable plug-and-play interoperability among software such as orbital analysis, mission planning, maneuver planning and scheduling tools.

Altair's President, Bryant Cruse, said: "The term Open System used to mean that a product supported an Applications Programmer's Interface, today that's no longer enough. Our vision of an Open System is one that has standardized non-proprietary interfaces that make it interoperable with a wide variety of products right out of the box.

The formation of the Space, Satellite and Ground Systems Group within OMG marks a significant step towards implementing object-oriented software interface standards in the space industry.

Altair is proud to be playing a leading role in moving industry towards the day when complex real time control systems can be assembled entirely from off-the-shelf components with plug-and-play interoperability."

Altair provides products, product integration support and operations support for automated control of satellites and launch vehicles.

The company's flagship product, the Altairis Mission Control System features advanced Finite State Modeling technology for automation and a modular, distributed, CORBA-compliant architecture.

Altairis has been selected for Landsat 7, MIDEX and other NASA programs as well as numerous other government and commercial customers.