# AverStar

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**AverStar** (formerly **Intermetrics, Inc.**) was a [software](/source/Software) company founded in [Cambridge](/source/Cambridge,_Massachusetts), [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts) in 1969 by several veterans of [M.I.T.'s](/source/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology) [Instrumentation Laboratory](/source/Charles_Stark_Draper_Laboratory) who had worked on the software for [NASA](/source/NASA)'s [Apollo Program](/source/Project_Apollo) including the [Apollo Guidance Computer](/source/Apollo_Guidance_Computer).

The company specialized in [compiler](/source/Compiler) technology. It was responsible for the design and implementation of the [HAL/S](/source/HAL/S) programming language, used to write the Space Shuttle PASS (Primary Avionics Software System). It participated in the design effort leading to the [Ada](/source/Ada_(programming_language)) programming language, designed the Red language, one of the finalists in the design competition, and wrote one of the first production-quality Ada compilers. The large-scale Ada 95 revision of the language was designed at Intermetrics.[1][2]. Intermetrics also developed the [CS-4](/source/CS-4_(programming_language)) programming language for the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy) in the 1970s as a "language extension" to [CMS-2](/source/CMS-2) and as "a translator for existing CMS-2 programs".[3]

Intermetrics merged with [Whitesmiths](/source/Whitesmiths) Ltd. in December 1988. In 1997, Intermetrics merged with [computer game](/source/Video_game) developer [Looking Glass Studios](/source/Looking_Glass_Studios) [\[1\]](https://web.archive.org/web/19991103003801/http://www.lglass.com/c_info/merger.html). In 1998, Intermetrics acquired [Pacer Infotec](/source/Pacer_Infotec), and changed its name to 'AverStar'. AverStar merged with the [Titan Corporation](/source/Titan_Corporation) in March, 2000;[4] Titan was acquired by [L-3 Communications](/source/L-3_Communications) in 2005.

## References

1. ["The Development of Hal/S"](https://www.cs.toronto.edu/XPL/hal.html). *www.cs.toronto.edu*. Retrieved 2020-03-30.

1. Newbold, P.M. (1974). *HAL/S language specification*. Cambridge, MA: United States.

1. Miller, James S. ["PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE FAMILY FOR THE NAVY AADC"](https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/390014.808296). Retrieved 2025-12-28.

1. Jones, Dow (2000-03-28). ["Company News; Averstar to Be Bought by Titan, a Consultant"](https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/28/business/company-news-averstar-to-be-bought-by-titan-a-consultant.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN 0362-4331](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2020-04-01.

## External links

- [A history of Intermetrics](https://web.archive.org/web/20020806201057/https://www.whysheep.com/i2/daf-history2.html), some subjective notes on Intermetrics in the 1970s and 1980s
- [Fourth conference — Intermetrics](http://authors.library.caltech.edu/5456/01/hrst.mit.edu/hrs/apollo/public/conference4/index.htm) part of the Apollo Guidance Computer History Project

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [AverStar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AverStar) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AverStar?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.