DNV GL announced that it has acquired Norwegian firm Marine Cybernetics for an undisclosed amount during a press conference at the Offshore Technology Conference on 7 May.
Trondheim-based Marine Cybernetics is a third-party company offering Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) testing to the maritime and offshore industries. HIL technology reduces the risk of accidents, off-hire costs and non-productive time due to software-related issues.
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DNV GL said that although the market for third-party testing and certification iof control systems is small, it has "huge potential."
"We see that an increasing number of incidents, many of them are severe, are caused by software-related issues. There's a weak spot in the way the offshore and marine industries work to ensure total system quality," Remi Eriksen, DNV GL group executive vice president and COO. "That weak spot is getting bigger every day, but we're going to rectify this. Marine Cybernetics has unique technology and processes for the third-party testing and verification of computer-based ontrol systems."
Marine Cybernetics was established in 2002 as a spin-off from the Norwegian university of Science and Technology (NTNU).