Lloyd's Register (LR) and Tribon Solutions AB have announced an important link between LR's innovative RulesCalc application and Tribon's established ship design system Tribon M1. The link will enable Tribon users to exchange design information between the two systems, permitting rapid checks for compliance with LR's classification Rules. As a result, designers will benefit from reduced iteration and minimum re-work on designs, giving greater confidence in the creation of ship designs that are right first time.

RulesCalc was designed from the outset to make data exchange using powerful new XML technology easier, providing a seamless exchange of design data, and helping designers to check compliance at any stage of their design. Alan Gavin, LR's Marine Director, commented: "The development of RulesCalc represents a major advance in design assessment systems. We have created a unique program capable of being 'plugged in' to ship design systems by utilising the latest techniques for data exchange. With Tribon's prominent position in the ship design system market, we are very pleased to have collaborated on an initiative that will benefit ship design offices with significant savings in time and costs".

Per-Olof Nilsson of Tribon Solutions added: "Tribon and RulesCalc together are a powerful combination for designers using LR's Rules. The ability to check rule compliance at any stage of the design will be invaluable in reducing the overall time and effort involved in designing safe ships".