The FINANCIAL — Siemens AG is bundling the software development capabilities of its Corporate Technology (CT) department and the software programming capabilities for its three Sectors Industry, Energy and Healthcare.
"Linking the technology-oriented software competencies to CT's research and development activities will optimally support the Sectors in developing systems and help establish a uniform software strategy throughout the integrated technology company. With standardized processes and a common development infrastructure, software development will be simpler, faster and more efficient. We're creating a central software house within the company to further drive the integration of the product development process," said Reinhold Achatz (54), head of Corporate Research at Siemens.
Reinhold Achatz will head the new software house, in which Siemens is bundling the expertise of 3,000 software engineers, the majority of whom are from India and Austria. He will take on this task in addition to his activities as the head of Corporate Research and Technologies.
Corporate Research's activities in the area of software engineering have so far comprised the optimization of product development processes, development systems and software architectures. The further integration of factory automation, intelligent energy distribution and new healthcare imaging technologies require closer linkage of process and technology development in the area of software.
Software is accounting for an ever greater share of Siemens' industrial solutions. In the global market, software is the key competitive advantage of many products. Greater transparency in software development and stronger, more cost-efficient standardization are two of the success factors Siemens intends to leverage by establishing the new corporate software house.
Further advantages result from the bundling of cross-Sector software R&D in one unit, as innovations in the software development process can be seamlessly integrated in programming.
The software unit is scheduled to start operation at the beginning of year 2009.
