ActiveState & ANSYS Spearhead Tcl Toolkit for the Windows XP 64-bit platform

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Author: JT Smith

Lori Pike writes: ActiveState®, the leader in open source programming tools, and ANSYS®, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANSS), the global innovator of simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes, today announced a partnership, to bring the Tcl/Tk (toolkit) to the Windows XP 64-bit platform running on Intel® Itanium

processor-based systems.
ActiveState and ANSYS, Inc. are the first to provide a port for Tcl/Tk on the Windows XP 64 bit platform running on Itanium-based systems. Currently this version of Tcl/Tk, available only through ActiveState, provides the Tcl/Tk toolkit to the worldwide community on the Itanium processor. However, ActiveState and ANSYS, Inc. will provide the Itanium processor ported code to the Tcl/Tk open source community. The incorporation of Tcl/Tk into the ANSYS Release 6.1 software suite will provide ANSYS users with an enhanced graphical user interface (GUI). Additionally, ANSYS users will have the capability to enhance and customize the ANSYS GUI menus, dialog boxes, buttons, wizards and other GUI options.

“We’re delighted to work with ANSYS in building on ActiveState’s Tcl initiatives to port Tcl/Tk and key extensions to Windows XP-64 platforms running on Itanium-based systems. These contributions will enable a wide range of users to take advantage of Tcl’s ease-of-use on the Intel Itanium processor family,” said Jeff Hobbs, Tcl Technical Lead, ActiveState.

“We are pleased to build this relationship with ActiveState to provide ANSYS software users with the GUI interface options needed to enhance their development processes,” stated Mike Wheeler, vice president of marketing for ANSYS, Inc. “Working with an open-source code provider offers users with immediate updates and feedback to expedite their process, saving time and money.”

“It’s been great working with ActiveState and ANSYS on this project to extend Tcl’s platform list to include Itanium-based systems,” said Melissa Laird, Director of Intel’s Developer Services and Support. “Their contribution to the community is invaluable to users who want to embed Tcl or work in native mode on our new platform.”

Other ActiveState Tcl initiatives comprise hosting of the primary Tcl community website. ActiveState also provides Tcl tools and resources in a single value package through ASPN Tcl. The company offers support for Tcl applications and internals on a wide range of platforms with the TclClinic on a per-incident basis, as a prepaid support contract, or through ActiveState’s TclDirect. Future plans include Visual Tcl, a Tcl plugin to Microsoft?s Visual Studio .NET.

About
ActiveState

ActiveState is the leading provider of open source based programming products and services for cross-platform development. ActiveState’s key technologies are Perl, the Internet’s most popular programming language;
Python and Tcl, user-friendly scripting languages; PHP, the dynamic Web programming language; and XSLT, the XML transformation language.

About ANSYS, Inc.
ANSYS, Inc., founded in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc., develops and globally markets engineering simulation software and technologies widely used by engineers and designers across a broad spectrum of industries, including aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, electronics and biomedical. Headquartered at Southpointe in Canonsburg, PA, ANSYS, Inc. employs 400 people and focuses on the development of open and
flexible solutions that enable users to analyze designs directly on the desktop, providing a common platform for fast, efficient and cost-conscious product development, from design concept to final-stage testing and validation. ANSYS, Inc. distributes its ANSYS®, DesignSpace®, AI* Solutions?, CADOE and ICEM-CFD Engineering products through a network of channel partners in 37 countries, in addition to its own direct sales offices in 18 strategic locations throughout the world. For additional information on ANSYS, Inc., please visit http://www.ansys.com.

Media and Analyst Contacts:Lori Pike, ActiveState
Dawn C. Tappy, ANSYS, Inc.

ActiveState, ASPN, TclClinic, TclDirect, and Visual Tcl are trademarks of ActiveState Corp. Intel and Itanium.