by Dr. Bernd Hindel (ASQF-President)

I am pleased to invite you to attend the 4th Conference on Quality Engineering in Software Technology, CONQUEST 2000.

To meet the demand for an international event centered on software quality, ASQF has established CONQUEST as an annual conference. In recent years the conference has attracted an international audience with, on average, around 250 guests. This year's conference, taking place 13th - 15th September in Nuremberg, Germany, is intended to attract even more attendees. The agenda includes subjects such as models for software development processes; analytical methods; metrics and measurement models; defect prevention; and management aspects of software engineering development. The first day is organized as a workshop and designated to testing non-functional software requirements.

CONQUEST is organized by ASQF e.V. in collaboration with Nuremberg Fachhochschule and with the encouragement of the German Computer Society GI. The patron of CONQUEST 2000 will be Bayern Innovativ. The test workshop is to be organized by ASQF in cooperation with VDE-ITG.

All lectures will be given in English or German. For the benefit of our international guests all German lectures will be translated into English by simultaneous interpreters. The conference proceedings will contain articles in German as well as in English. All German articles will at least be summarized in English.

There will be an exhibition running alongside the conference, giving delegates a unique opportunity to find out more about the wide array of tools and concepts for software development. The exhibition area is the central platform for discussions and contacts. Tools and services will be also presented in more detail in the industrial tracks which take place in parallel with lunch breaks on 14th - 15th September.

The conference programme of CONQUEST 2000 is completed by a "Welcome Reception" and Conference Dinner on 14th September 2000.

We look forward to meeting you in Nuremberg to extend our software quality experience-exchange network.

The ASQF (Arbeitskreis Software Qualität Franken e.V.) is a non-profit group of software professionals whose aims are: to promote discussion and raise awareness of the important role software has to play in the wider community; to foster exchange of experience amongst software developers and quality managers; to underpin the sharing of knowledge between software developers from industry, research institutions and academia; and to encourage publication in the field of software quality.