NTTC, OSC Celebrate Space Agency's Birthday, Launch "NASA CLASSICS" Software Apps to Commercial Markets

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To our community:
For those interested in downloading code from the NASA Classics Collection, you should be aware that we are currently required to charge a fee for the software.

More information on the Open Channel Software license policy can be found here.

For information about a specific title, or to ask a more general question, please use this contact form. A list of NASA Classic software appears at the end of this page.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Open Channel Software, National Technology Transfer Center "light the candles" on more than 200 medical, engineering, chemical, and aerospace applications.

FROM THIS DAY IN HISTORY.COM: "SPACE PROGRAM"
"The 1950s witnessed the birth of the modern era of space exploration. A milestone in this process was the inauguration of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958, as the successor to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The latter, founded in 1915, had played a key role in the development of the nation's aeronautical industry through research and related activities. The new agency had a similar mandate and was also delegated the task of overseeing the civilian space program."

CHICAGO - Just in time to lead America in celebrating NASA's 43rd birthday today (Oct 1) with the National Technology Transfer Center, Open Channel Software (OCS) announces that its non-profit arm, the Open Channel Foundation, will publish a series of applications called the NASA CLASSICS collection, with an eye towards commercializing as many of these applications as possible. A small step for OCS, the NASA software collection - accessible now at http://www.openchannelsoftware.com -represents a giant leap in the potential solution to a wide range of engineering and analysis problems in the disciplines of medicine, chemistry, aerodynamics, and more.

Specifically, OCS has entered into an agreement with the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, West Virginia, whereby it will market individual pieces of the software collection at prices ranging from $20.00 each to $8,000.00, according to Douglas Curry, vice president of business development at Open Channel Software. "NTTC is the 'distributor' of more than 500 software programs created by NASA developers," said Joseph Allen, president of NTTC. "OCS now has access to these programs, as well as those from other Federal agencies. As we work with NASA and its field centers, OCS will enable us to help NASA promote open source software for the public benefit," Allen stated.

Originally published as part of the COSMIC collection - 500+ programs across the widest imaginable range of disciplines - NASA CLASSIC software essentially is the "retail" end of that collection. OCS will be marketing more than 200 titles in all, initially by making them available on its web site. These applications began in 1966 as part of a program to establish a central repository for all NASA software developed by research centers, subcontractors and universities working on NASA-funded projects.

Operated by The University of Georgia until 1999, NASA CLASSICS represent a majority of the software developed by NASA during a 30-year research period that supported activities related to both the Space Program and other scientific efforts. The majority of these software applications have high levels of reliability associated with their core computational capabilities. In general, the applications are well-tested and debugged, based upon benchmark testing. Since debugging represents a major cost to nearly all software developers, substantial time and dollar savings can be enjoyed by commercial organizations wanting to modify these newly available, application-specific NASA software products for their own use.

Most of the NASA CLASSIC programs were based on the high-level application of scientific knowledge as solutions to real-world engineering problems. There were used in the design of space vehicles for equipment and facilities - the Apollo moon project, for example - as well as in the analysis and planning of real operational problems related to the space program and other NASA activities. A substantial portion of the NASA CLASSIC software collection was developed with dual-use capabilities, such as engineering, materials processing, biological sciences, medical information management, operational decision-making, and several other areas now of interest to today's commercial users of cost-effective business solutions.

By launching this joint marketing program with NTTC, Open Channel Software (OCS) is taking a giant leap in software technology transfer. This is because a large portion of the NASA CLASSICS software programs is based upon the FORTRAN computing language, either in toto or in the form of modular structures that can be linked with C and C++ language modules.

The increasing availability of Linux operating systems for all computer platforms (including the new IBM S/390), combined with the free availability of GNU software, means that these highly stable NASA software applications can be readily modified, compiled, and run on systems run at most commercial enterprises, as well as at research and educational institutions.

The first set of 205 applications from the collection, distributed by NTTC, is now available at http://www.openchannelsoftware.com, according to Douglas Curry, vice president of business development at Open Channel Software. Users can locate the NASA software by looking through disciplines of interest on our website, or by searching on the term "NASA," according to Curry.

About NTTC
The Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center (NTTC) was established at Wheeling Jesuit University in 1989 by U.S. Congress to strengthen American industry by providing access to more than $70 billion worth of federally funded research. Today, it is a full-service technology commercialization center, providing access to federal technology information; technology commercialization training; technology assessment services; assistance in finding strategic business partners; and electronic business development services.

About Open Channel Software
Open Channel Software (OCS) is an Internet-based organization that publishes, distributes, and commercializes software created at academic and research institutions, serving as a central clearinghouse for high-quality, technically advanced scientific applications. By hosting these programs in an open-source environment, OCS is able to monitor market activity and identify breakthrough opportunities with strong commercial potential for appropriate hosted applications. At that point, revenues can be generated by providing needed support services to commercially sponsored programs targeted for success.

The OCS Web site offers truly innovative, cutting-edge programs focused around certain categories, or Disciplines. OCS actively promotes the software that it sponsors, in order to build and maintain a community of involved users. If software has sufficient commercial viability, OCS provides the resources that are required to bring that software to commercial distribution, proactively markets it, and offers fee-based support and services to its customers. Please contact OCS by visiting the organization's Website, http://www.openchannelsoftware.com or by phoning 773-334-8177 to learn more about the Open Channel Foundation, its software Disciplines, products and services, or to become a participating author/developer.

NOTE: All product names mentioned in this news release are brands or registered trademarks of the respective owners.

This list includes most of the "NASA CLASSIC" software collection now available at http://www.openchannelsoftware.com . .