The Software Industry Coalition

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

                   The Software Industry Coalition


        Building quality relationships, processes and products


                Organization Background, June 1993


Purpose and Mission
-----------------------------------
The Software Industry Coalition (SoftCo) is a not-for-profit membership 
organization dedicated to improving the quality of the software industry's 
relationships, processes and products. The mission of SoftCo is to identify 
specific projects and build collaborative relationships within the software 
industry to actively address issues common to the industry.


Goals
----------------
- Create a software industry voice by joining forces with existing
organizations 
to 
foster credibility, strength and stability on matters of common interest in 
industrial, 
regulatory and intellectual property policies


- Advance the state-of-the-art of software technology through 
industry-academia-government collaborations in software engineering process 
development, software quality, and management/executive leadership 
development 


- Develop an information resource for and strategic working alliances among 
executives, companies, associations, academia and government to define and 
enhance the role and impact of software on the global community. 


Overview
--------------------
The Software Industry Coalition originated from ideas presented to the Joint 
Venture: Silicon Valley Software Working Group in the fall of 1992. The 
working group identified lack of leadership and collaboration as major 
problem areas of the software industry. There are many associations and 
organizations, both locally and nationally, that focus on specific issues and 
concerns of the software industry. Some of these organizations are aware 
of each other and have even developed cooperative relationships. However, 
all the existing organizations combined are not covering the issues and 
goals identified as priorities by the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Software 
Working Group. The major tasks of the Software Industry Coalition are to 
address these unmet priorities, while in a sprit of  cooperation, we identify 
and empower existing organizations to achieve mutual goals and expand 
horizons within the software communities.


During the spring of 1993 a Steering Committee representing the 
commercial software industry, academia and government was organized to 
form the framework for a non-profit corporation. The Committee identified 
three project focus areas that corresponded to the stated goals of the 
Coalition and would meet the needs identified by the Joint Venture: 
Software Working Group. On May 28, 1993, the Software Industry Coalition 
was incorporated as a California non-profit corporation.


The Coalition has moved forward rapidly with its projects. In May 1993, we 
held our first mini-symposium involving several universities and businesses 
discussing the education of software professionals. Those discussions led 
to Santa Clara University setting up an electronic forum for continuing the 
dialog and the planning of the next educational mini-symposium in July '93. 
Additionally, the policy project set its first workshop, dealing with 
software licensing and taxation for late June '93. Over the next few months 
SoftCo will reach out to software organizations and associations across the 
US to build consensus on issues of common interest.


Our Members
------------------------
The  members of the Software Industry Coalition reflect the diversity of the 
software industry. They represent Independent Software Vendors that 
create and produce software products for sale, as well as Information 
Technology or MIS departments of companies, government labs and 
colleges that develop software for internal use. Other members are 
companies that design and manufacture computers,  networks and systems 
and those who design software for use internal to the products they sell. 


Finally, our members come from many different professional and trade 
associations, consortia, and consulting services companies. Serving the 
interests of 
this diverse and disparate membership requires new and unique organizational 
agreements and an extremely  competent staff in building and  managing 
relationships and projects.


Our Organization
--------------------------
The Software Industry Coalition is led by its Board of Directors which is 
composed of representatives from its membership. SoftCo is managed by a 
small executive staff. The Board, executive staff, and general membership 
select specific projects to be undertaken annually. These projects include 
regulatory actions, educational programs, and assistance to other member 
organizations.  The executive staff, working with "on loan" executives from 
member companies, manages the on-going activities of these projects and 
reports progress to the Board.  The SoftCo newsletter keeps all of our 
membership current with the activities of the coalition.


Benefits to Our Members
------------------------------------
While there are many benefits included in a SoftCo membership, the most 
directly measurable are the financial and influential leverages obtained by 
investing with other members in projects that directly advance software 
development technology.   


For More Information Contact:


John Moran                                                      
Software Industry Coalition
2369 Gianera Street     Voice: 408-980-8294     Fax: 408-980-8295
Santa Clara, CA 95054   e-mail: Compuserve 72163,3274


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------
Software Industry Coalition                        Policy Project Overview


Project Purpose and Mission
-----------------------------------------
The purpose of the Policy Project is to facilitate consensus within the 
software industry on issues of industrial, regulatory, and intellectual
property 
rights policies and to present a coordinated software industry voice on 
issues  affecting the software industry. The mission of the project is to 
sponsor an annual summit meeting in Silicon Valley with  participants 
composed of members of the Executive branch staff, Congressional staff, 
and members of the Software Industry Coalition.  A goal of the summit will 
be to present the Administration and Congress with specific proposed 
legislation needed in each target area.  A working group will monitor and 
facilitate progress during the interim between summits.  Initial efforts of the 
project will include sponsoring mini-conferences on various issues of 
concern to the software industry in order to further industry knowledge of 
the issues and to facilitate consensus on the issues.


Goals
--------------
- Work with Congress and the Administration to address software industry 
issues.
      - Foster recognition of software as an important industry in its own
right, 
        separate from hardware or education.


      - Gain understanding of the software industry's role in  job
creation, it's 
        growing contribution to GDP, and it's place as part of our
infrastructure 
        investment.


      - Clarify the role of the software industry in the government's
technology 
        policy on issues of technology transfer programs, national R & D labs
        restructuring, defense conversion, and the National Data Network
relative 
to   
        software licensing and distribution.


- Present software industry consensus on intellectual property rights issues.
     - Copyrightability of aspects of user interfaces                   - 
     - Software Patents
     - Multimedia (software-audio-video) licensing issues               
     - Industry-wide standard license
     - Alternatives to copyright and patents for protecting software


- Strengthen the U.S. Software Industry
      - Foster government programs which provide incentives and reduce 
        external (foreign Government) legislative and regulatory barriers
to foreign 
        markets. 


- Facilitate Entrepreneurism by resolving legislative and regulatory issues.
      - Reduce internal (U.S. Government) legislative and regulatory
barriers to 
        foreign markets
      - Reverse the proposed FASB ruling on stock options
      - Halt the IRS campaign to slash the number of self-employed Americans, 
        especially self-employed technology experts 


Measurements of Success
--------------------------------------
- The degree of consensus reached on key topics within the software industry 
prior 
to the summit.


- Implementation and success of proposed legislation.  


- Improved communications between the Clinton administration, Congress and 
the 
Software Industry. 


- Recognition of the software industry's importance to the national economy.




For further information contact: Kaye Caldwell, Project Director, 
510-799-0153              e-mail: Compuserve 72260,2414


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
Software Industry Coalition              Education/Quality Project Overview
                                                                
Project Purpose and Mission
-----------------------------------------
The purpose is to advance the state-of-the-art of software technology 
through industry-academia-government collaboration in software 
engineering, software process development, software quality, software 
econometrics, and management/leadership development. The mission of 
this project is to raise the level of awareness of issues impacting the quality 
and productivity of  the software creation process and to start identifying 
ways of improving the processes. The first efforts will include mini-
symposiums, workshops and papers on the subject. These efforts are 
intended to demonstrate the advantages of quality design in the control and 
reduction of costs and the improvements of time to market and usability. A 
major national symposium will be the culmination of a series of papers and 
conversations orchestrated by the E/Q project.


Goals
--------------
- Establish collaborative relationships between the software industry, 
government, 
and academia.


- Identify and validate major issues and barriers that are currently
impacting the 
quality and productivity of the software creation process. Some of these issues 
are:
        - College graduates are not well prepared to produce quality software
        - There are few effective economic measures being used in the 
        production of software.
        - Software quality isn't well defined and is often determined by
testing 
        - Company executives and administrators are  not aware of the issues 
        facing software developers


- Identify researchers and specific areas of research that could assist in 
overcoming 
some of the barriers to higher quality and productivity.


- Develop action plans to collaboratively improve the quality and
productivity of 
software creation processes. 


- Identify specific courses and curricula to assist in the conversion of
defense 
workers to commercial software developers.


- Identify specific alternative means of financing to assist universities and 
businesses to meet their respective needs


Measurements of Success
--------------------------------------
- Good participation at three to five "mini-symposiums" from the software 
industry, 
academia, and government agencies. Each symposium having identified follow 
on 
work to be undertaken.


- Strong participation and successful completion of  the "major symposium" with 
action plans for various groups to start improving software process quality and 
productivity.


- Creation of Mini-coalitions for educators and business to address the core 
issues 
on an ongoing basis.


For further information contact:  Bob D'Orazio, Project Director, 
408-439-8556             e-mail: Compuserve 71712, 3703 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------      
                
Software Industry Coalition        Information Resource Project Overview


Project Purpose and Mission
------------------------------------------
The purpose is to develop an information resource for and strategic working 
alliances among executives, companies, associations, academia and 
government to define and enhance the role and impact of software on the 
global community. The mission of this project is to provide the staff and 
members of the Software Industry Coalition a set of on-line electronic 
exchange and information resources specifically addressing issues common 
to the software industry.
  


Goals
----------- 
- Design, develop, and implement an on-line directory of members of the 
Software 
Industry Coalition with addresses for sending electronic mail.


- Design, develop and implement an on-line directory of associations involved 
in 
promoting and supporting issues common to the software industry, with 
addresses 
for sending electronic mail.


 - Design, develop, and implement an on-line directory of current issues 
relevant to 
the software industry, its various associations and the members of the Software 
Industry Coalition. 


 - Design, develop, and implement an on-line newsletter containing a recent 
history 
and current status of projects or events either sponsored by Software Industry 
Coalition or of particular interest to the coalition. 


- Design, develop, and implement an on-line forum or conference for topics that 
would be of interest to coalition members.


-  Design, develop, and implement an on-line software research database for 
members of the coalition to investigate reuse, human factors, organizational 
design 
and other research areas.




Measurements of Success
---------------------------------------
 - Successful implementation of each on-line system and use by  membership.




For further information contact: John Moran, Project Facilitator,  
408-980-8294                e-mail: Compuserve 72163,3274
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------


Software Industry Coalition Staff


John Moran, President
---------------------------------
Founder and president of the Software Industry Coalition, John has more 
than 25 years experience as a corporate officer, software developer, 
marketer, and project manager at Sperry Univac, Control Data Corporation, 
Mips Computer Systems, Optical Storage International, and Unisys Corp.


John's expertise has been developed through the organization and 
management of the marketing and sales support functions for three high 
tech start up companies; as a team leader developing computer systems 
products and international markets; and as the founder of Global Gateways, 
a consulting services company engaged in business process redesign for 
high tech companies.


John's contribution to the Coalition is to focus on building the quality 
relationships necessary to create a strong membership dedicated to 
common goals specific to the software industry, spanning legislative, 
educational, and process issues.  John's educational background includes a 
BS in Computer Science from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Golden Gate 
University. 




Kaye Caldwell, Policy Project Director
--------------------------------------------------------
Policy Project Director for the Software Industry Coalition, Kaye has 6 years 
of  experience working with the California legislature, government agencies 
and Congress on issues affecting the computer software industry.


Her expertise has been developed through working on issues involving sales 
taxes on software services, tax classification of  technical services 
consultants, computer hardware and software support policy legislation, 
and a variety of other issues for the Software Entrepreneurs' Forum and the 
Computer Software Industry Association. Kaye also owns Caldwell Software 
Solutions, a 15 year old company which provides property management 
software to real estate companies, as well as custom programming 
services.  


Kaye's contribution to the Software Industry Coalition will be to focus on 
facilitating consensus within the software industry on issues of  industrial, 
regulatory, and intellectual property rights policies, to present a coordinated 
software industry voice on issues affecting the industry. Her educational 
background includes a BA in Mathematics from Sonoma State University.




Robert D'Orazio, Ph. D. , Education/Quality Project Director
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
As co-founder and president of a telecommunications company in Chicago,  
Dr. Bob D'Orazio is a senior executive consultant with 30 years of technical, 
marketing, operations and staff management experience at IBM, Bell Labs,  
AT&T, Plantronics, ISS, AMI and MCT. 


His experiences stem from many pivotal strategic positions in development, 
marketing, sales, support, program management, and general management 
of over 32 new products and services in telecommunications, disk drives, 
integrated circuits, and computer systems. He is a partner at Global 
Gateways.                                         
                                                                       
Dr. D'Orazio's diversified background provides thought provoking leadership 
for the Software Industry Coalition's Education/Quality Project. The goal of 
the Project is to improve the quality, process, and products developed in 
colleges, universities, and industry.  His educational background includes a 
B.S.E.E. from Drexel University, M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. from California Institute 
of Technology, and an MBA from Pace/Harvard.   


 Document End                   June 1993