In September 1996, the Software Management Review Council (SMRC) designated the Data & Analysis Center for Software (DACS) as the DoD Software Information Clearinghouse. In so doing, the SMRC has identified the DACS as the focal point for DoD and other personnel to locate information about all aspects of software technology; state of the art and best practices, education and training, and DoD - plans, policy, and standards.

The DACS will disseminate this information primarily through its newsletter, Software Tech News, and via the DACS Web Page at http://www.dacs.dtic.mil.

DoD personnel can also gain information or assistance by contacting the DACS via telephone at (315) 334-4905 or via E-mail at [email protected].

The requirement for a clearinghouse evolved from a recognized need that DoD users need rapid and timely access to such information as software technology, including metrics, education and training, calendar of events, best practices, and software policy and standards. To achieve the rapid access requirement, a web site has been developed by the DACS to assist DoD Program Managers, PEO's and personnel at T&E Centers, R&D Laboratories, Maintenance Centers, and Central Design Facilities in locating software information and resources.

As you can see, this newsletter has changed in both style and format. The new title of the newsletter was chosen to specifically identify the DACS' new focus - Software Technology. The newsletter content has been expanded to include articles and information both suitable and useful to Program Managers and Program Executive Officers who utilize, develop or acquire software, as well as continuing to provide this information to researchers as we have in the past. Our objectives for the new DACS newsletter are to provide: information about current policies, plans and standards that affect you now, information about important new technical findings; information about new articles, reports and books, information about upcoming courses and events, and WWW URLs that point to important new happenings in software technology. Every newsletter will be accessible from our web site.

A Newsletter Editorial Board oversees each issue of the newsletter in terms of content and quality. The members of the editorial board are, in addition to DACS staff members: Mr. Paul Engelhart of USAF Rome Laboratory, Mr. Morton Hirschberg of US Army Research Laboratory, Mr. Jack McGarry of the US Naval Undersea Warfare Center, and Mr. Marshall Potter of the US Naval Information Systems Management Center.

If you have not visited the DACS web site in the last 3-6 months, you will see significant changes which occurred there as well. The goal of our web site, as is the newsletter, is to provide current, up-to-date, noncommercial, information about software technology as well as pointers to useful web resources.

1. Navigation Icons on the left side of most pages. Those icons of special note are:

Search The SEARCH Icon allows you to perform a keyword search across multiple, user selected, sites. You no longer have to visit each site to locate information. Many of the more commonly accessed sites are listed and can automatically be included for search. This capability will be available to the public in early June.	Education and Training The EDUCATION and TRAINING Icon provides pointers to education and training resources available within the DoD, as well as to some sources outside of the DoD.
Calendar of Events The CALENDAR of EVENTS Icon provides a valuable list of upcoming conferences and events to the DoD software community.	Technical Reports The TECHNICAL REPORTS Icon points to the most popular area on our site. On-line browsing and down loading of technical reports.

2. The Topic Areas shown in the center of the DACS Home Page provides access to on-line resources in technical areas being tracked by the DACS, as well as information about current activities in the DoD plans, policies and standards. Technical areas being tracked include:

Cleanroom Software Engineering, Formal Methods, Measurement, the Year 2000 (Y2K) Problem, Ada and Java, Software Reuse, Security, Software Process Improvement, and Technology Base.

We hope that you will visit our web site many times, bookmark it and make it your starting point to explore software technology information. Our site currently has in excess of 1,000 pointers to internal and external material, but as stated throughout our web pages, if you have suggestions for other resources to be added to our web site, please send us a message at [email protected].

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