Prof Barry Dwolatzky, JCSE academic director, says the launch was addressed by Dr Dimitri Vratsanos from Psybergate, and around 30 people from the software development community were in attendance, including representatives from the banks, corporates and other educational institutions. After the address on requirements analysis and design, there was a lively discussion and a networking session.

Dwolatzky says there are a number of Spins around the world which are registered with the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), which is situated at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the USA.

"As the official partner of the SEI in Africa, one of the JCSE's objectives is to create a pre-competitive space through Spins where people from the software sector can network and discuss changes in the industry and how they affect the sector into the future," he says.

A committee has been formed to head up the Spin, which will include members from all over Gauteng. The committee is being headed up by Estelle Trengove, who is a lecturer at the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at Wits. Other members of the committee include Susan Barnard (IBM), Piet de Weerdt (Prism) and Morkel Theunissen (University of Pretoria).

The Spin will meet ever six weeks or so, and will have a guest speaker, followed by a discussion period and networking. The Spin will also link in with other Spins around the world through the SEI's Web site for Spins (http://www.sei.cmu.edu/collaborating/spins/) and Spin members will have the opportunity to attend the annual Spin conference organised by the SEI.

For more information on the Spin, contact Trengove on .