ABSTRACT
The future of computer aided systems engineering (CASE) will be determined by a battle which has been raging for a decade. Open systems standards are becoming a reality in the CASE arena: the closed architecture is, if not dead, fighting for its survival. Any organisation looking for a CASE strategy for the future must be aware of the pressures that vendors themselves are under. For application developers, the future, or a significant element of it, lies with the implementation of packages, many of which can be tailored. CASE data interchange format is used for exchanging information between CASE tools and repositories. Information that can be exchanged includes descriptions, placement and details of text and graphic elements. Portable common tools environment permits the use of CASE tools across different operating systems and LANs. The hardware vendors are, in a number of cases, downgrading the sale of processors, disk drives and workstations in favour of software.
