Avionics Software Outsourcing Deal Draws Fire

Washington: An alliance between a U.S. embedded-software services company and an Indian-based partner to outsource avionics software development is raising flags among offshoring opponents, who question whether mission-critical software should be written by international teams.
Avista Inc. (Platteville, Wis.) and Silver Software (Malmesbury, England), which has a software development facility in Bengaluru, India last week announced an alliance they said would allow aircraft makers and avionics companies to shift software development offshore while retaining U.S.-based project management.
Norm Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California at Davis and a leading U.S. opponent of offshoring, said that overseas development of avionics software is a bad idea. He also questioned whether the alliance between Avista and Silver Software, which has a software development facility in Bengaluru, India, would actually result in cost savings. While aircraft makers and avionics contractors might benefit, Matloff said, "the software costs amount to a minuscule portion of the average airline ticket."
Matloff of UC Davis said it may not be feasible to have software developers in India and managers in the United States.
29/01/07 George Leopold/EE Times/InformationWeek, US

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