In this guest article by Carsten Pitz is about a topic that has become highly topical in recent years: how do you ensure that a product can be maintained over its entire life cycle if this is measured in decades? A period of one hundred years - i.e. century support - is not so far-fetched.

I have heard of enough examples over the years where this is a major problem. From train control systems where defects were only discovered decades later and signaling systems that have to be operated in a reduced mode because a (software) repair is not profitable due to a lack of information.

Enjoy reading the first part on a topic that is becoming increasingly important in today's fast-paced world.

Guest article by Carsten Pitz: Motivation (Part 1)

Century Support: This means product support for a hundred years - or more. To show why this is even necessary, I would like to give you an example from my product environment. It was about a S1000D based IETD system. IETD stands for interactive electronic technical documentation, and S1000D is an international specification for the production of technical publications.

In 1999 and 2000, as an architect and senior developer, I created the technical concept for the IETD system and managed the development of the prototypes. My employer at the time was a small systems consultancy with around 100 employees. We were geared towards project work and had neither suitable employees nor the infrastructure to maintain a product in the long term. Accordingly, the prototypes and development documents were handed over to the customer in 2000, who then commissioned another company to develop them further.

By 2002, the first pilot projects were using the IETD system productively. Our concept had worked, the customer was satisfied. And then things went quiet for a few years.

In the meantime, the customer had already documented over 400 systems with the IETD system. These included systems with a very long service life. In 2009, the customer approached us with a request to create a concept to ensure 50+ years of product support. The 50 years was the official statement, but the customer made it clear to us that they wanted a concept for unlimited support.

Officially, support was required for 50 years, but what was actually wanted was support for an unlimited period Officially, support was required for 50 years, but what was actually wanted was support for an unlimited period

The S1000D is a documentation standard from the Aerospace. It originates from the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) and has been adopted by the Aerospace Industries Association of America (AIA) and the ATA e-Business Program. However, our customer has not exclusively documented airplanes with the IETD system.

The life cycle of aircraft

Why such a long support period is needed at all will be shown using the example of the life cycle of aircraft:

Airbus A300

Boeing B-52

Well, 98 years of life cycle rounded up a little results in 100 years of life cycle, and thus the Century Support. That corresponds to about four generations. Have you ever discussed this with your great-grandparents?

Century support is comparable to a discussion with your great-grandparents [tweetthis]Century support is comparable to a discussion with your great-grandparents[/tweetthis]

Four generations mean changes of both a technical and social nature. How does that work? I am aware that many people see the cut here as mean, as a cliff-hanger. But this cut is neither mean nor a cliff-hanger, as it gives you a month to think about it: How would I approach this? I look forward to hearing your opinion in the comments section.

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