Enterprise Lifecycle Management firm Telelogic is looking to spread the use of model-driven application development with the release this week of Telelogic Modeler, a free UML (Unified Modeling Language) design environment.

UML is used in software development as well as business process modeling and systems engineering. It features standard graphical notations that can be used to create abstract models of systems.

Telelogic Modeler supports the UML 2.1 specification and contains many of the same features as Telelogic’s Tau and Rhapsody products. Modeler enables developers to form models and generate documents for reporting and collaboration purposes. Those documents can either be printed or based on HTML.

“It is a full environment in and of itself,” said Scott McKorkle, director of product marketing at Telelogic. “This is a way to bring UML-based [capabilities] to the organizations that haven’t already been exposed to UML”.

Most embedded developers have not been using UML, said Matt Volckmann, senior analyst for embedded systems software at Venture Development, in an e-mail.

Some quality freeware may help companies realize the benefits of using a model-based development approach, he said.

After focusing on industries like aerospace, automotive and defense, Telelogic has recently expanded into areas such as telecommunications, banking, and financial applications.