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Posted: Thu, March 22, 2007
Software in Wales - inaugural conference examines issues to drive the success of the industryby Sali Earls
The conference was opened with an address from Andrew Davies, Minister for Enterprise Innovation & Networks, Welsh Assembly Government. He told delegates that Wales is a land of opportunity, with a world class workforce and leading academic base, and is becoming the place of choice for software companies. Davies told the conference, "Software is one of the world's key enabling technologies: a sector that is vital to Wales in the 21st century. We have already built a strong industrial base in software and we have some key advantages, including a university network which is pioneering research in a range of information and computer technology fields.
The keynote presentation of the conference was delivered by Nigel Hartnell, Chair of the Software Group at Intellect, the trade association for the UK hi-tech industry. In his presentation, looking in depth at the UK Software Industry, Hartnell told delegates that he was delighted that Andrew Davies had attended to show his support, but in general terms the software industry in the UK does not receive the support it needs from UK and European governments. In an industry that moves so quickly, Hartnell expressed his concern that the data used in decision making by companies and governments is out of date and does not reflect the current picture of the industry. He told delegates that they are working in a large and mature industry, but one that is driven by innovation that will increasingly come from the areas of entertainment, mobile and embedded technologies. Drawing to a close, Hartnell told delegates that change is ever present in such a fast moving international environment, saying, "We all need to raise our game, welcome change with open arms and realise that if we don't re-invent ourselves, we may become an also ran in this rapidly changing market." A two part "State of the Nation" address followed the UK perspective, with the business angle presented by Dr Chris Young, Chief Executive of the Welsh Electronics Forum. The Forum is the trade association for the technology industries of Wales, which include software, semi-conductors and electronics, and is the voice of technology in Wales. Dr Young presented a range of statistics from the Welsh Electronics Forum, which indicated that almost 5,000 people work in the Welsh software industry, for 370 companies, 9% of which employ more than 25 people. She concluded by discussing her vision of a possible future of the industry in Wales, which could be made up of virtual companies and networks of individuals, which will require a different approach to marketing.
Earls then defined the objectives of the action plan developed for Wales by e-skills UK, the sector skills council for IT and telecoms, and touched upon recent ICT expenditure in schools by the Welsh Assembly Government, which has been spent on interactive whiteboards and broadband provision. From this, Earls stated, "At the highest level, people making decisions about what is needed in schools and in curriculum development do not understand the difference between ICT and computing. The country desperately needs computing skills, but the current school computing curriculum neither inspires nor prepares young people for the challenges ahead." Earls concluded by summarising the problems of the skills shortage in the UK, and said that everyone must take responsibility to understand and address the barriers to success, which includes the public perception of computing. Picking up on the future of the software industry in Wales and the UK touched upon by previous speakers; Professor Mike Rodd of the British Computer Society presented his take on the future. He began by briefly defining the areas of society which are now directly impacted by IT, saying, "In short - the health, wealth and welfare of every member of our society depends on IT systems." Professor Rodd went onto say that although IT is essential to compete on a local and international basis, most senior decision-makers - political, social and business - are almost totally unaware of the limitations and opportunities of IT and as a result, have unrealistic expectations.
With the scene set, the conference turned to some practical sessions, the first of which saw delegates opting for presentations from Microsoft or Red Hat. Martin Parry, Developer Evangelist at Microsoft, presented Windows Vista for developers. In his highly technical presentation, Parry demonstrated some of the new features of the latest version of Windows, and discussed a range of issues including security and .NET, that are important for those developing for the Vista platform. Alan Cox, Fellow at Red Hat, discussed open standards and Open Source, focussing on the benefits of working with products where anyone can contribute to the development. He told delegates about the variety of languages that can be used in the development environment, and the rich development tools that are currently available including bug tracking and version control.
In the technical workshop, Dr Robert Gittins of ITWales and Dr Dave Jennings of Trosolwg Systems & Software, debated different programming methodologies with Gittins advocating Extreme Programming, and Jennings favouring a more formal approach. The methodologies discussed are diametrically opposed ways of tackling the shortcomings of software development. The business stream was presented by Richard Sheppard of Draig Technology Ltd., who gave an insight into his experiences of starting and developing a software company. He told delegates that in order to succeed they must develop "uniqueness", and have a strong value proposition; delivering what the customer wants rather than the features the developers want to develop. In closing, Sheppard said that being good was not enough, and that to make it in software, companies needed to display patience, humility and be prepared to fail. Dewi Jones and Rhys Jones of Canolfan Bedwyr gave a presentation on developing software for multicultural and multilingual environments in the strategic workshop. They defined language technologies, and said that programmes with knowledge of human language enable software to become multilingual. Through demonstrations, the presentation showed that any software that deals with text can be multilingual - from content management, and customer relationship management systems, to ecommerce, to data mining, but there are problems posed by creating a "voice" that speaks Welsh properly. The presenters also discussed Cymdeithas Meddalwedd Cymraeg (The Association of Welsh Language Software), which is made up of software practitioners that support the Welsh language. Beti Williams, Director of ITWales brought the inaugural conference to a close by summing up the concepts discussed throughout the day, reiterating the concern about the skills shortage, and the use of out of date data. She told delegates that ITWales intend to make the conference an annual event, taking place at locations across Wales. Software in Wales: Structuring Success was organised by ITWales with the support of International Business Wales, the Welsh Electronics Forum and the Welsh Assembly Government. Click here to read a critique of the technical workshop, looking at Extreme Programming versus Formal Methods Business Club members can now access the presentations from the day via the Event Resources in the Members Section. Not a member yet? Click here to find out more and register today. Send a comment about this article to editor@itwales.com. |
The first ever conference for the software industry in Wales took place in
Swansea on 14 March, and over 100 delegates took part in the event which saw speakers from across the UK cover a
diverse range of issues facing software developers. Software in Wales: Structuring Success was organised by ITWales, with support from the Welsh Assembly Government, and attracted
speakers from world class organisations including Microsoft, Red Hat, the British Computer Society and Intellect.
In
conclusion, he said, "As Minster, I am determined to make sure that the sector is supplied with the skills and infrastructure it needs to grow on these solid foundations."
The academic state of
the nation was delivered by Sali Earls of 
Rodd discussed several recent high profile
reports, including the BCS' own 
Following lunch,
delegates selected one of three streamed workshop sessions, one technical, one business focused and one strategic.|
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