Using a methodology, based upon one initially created by a group of hardware engineers in ICL to improve the process of specifying, designing and implementing a mainframe computer.

The methodology encouraged the idea of specifying the interfaces between hardware units, up front, before specifying the hardware units themselves.

Coupled with a hierarchic design approach (decomposing each unit into further, more detailed interfaces and units), led to a number of benefits:

Design independence - units at either side of an interface could be designed and tested independently.

Mixed Multi-level Modelling - the ability to simulate systems with units of varying complexity from different hierarchic levels.

Intellectual Property - A unit of design can be fully bound by specified interfaces.

Though the methodology was devised to solve problems of hardware design, it can also be used to specify, design and implement any system that can be thought of in terms of its interfaces.

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