Industrial usage of formal development methods-the VSE-tool applied in pilot projects

Formal methods are recognized as the most promising way to produce high-assurance software systems. In reality, this fact is not enough to convince industry to use them. Formal methods must be applicable and usable in several areas (e.g. security, safety); engineers have to accept a change in software development work but should not be asked to give up the environment they are used to; and bosses must realize that higher effort during the design phase can save money and time later. This paper describes the recently-completed formal specification and verification tool VSE (Verification Support Environment). An advantage of the design of the VSE tool is the possibility of using formal and semi-formal development methods combined in a unique working environment. After the official release of the VSE system in March 1995, several pilot projects were carried out with industry. This paper gives an overview of the VSE system and describes the results of the pilot applications.