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Software Engineering Australia sells commercial operations, funds software industry development program

Announcement posted by Software Engineering Australia 18 Mar 2005

Software Engineering Australia (SEA) today announced that it has taken the decision to sell its training and consulting business and transfer its cash assets to a like-minded organisation to carry on its objectives. The SEA Board reached this decision after confirming that the commercial operations were no longer viable, and the interests of the Australian software industry were best served by this course of action.
SEA's training and consulting services have been sold to Object Consulting Pty Limited, an Australian owned and operated consultant, trainer and developer of enterprise software solutions. All employees of SEA's education and consulting business will join Object Consulting.
The SEA Board invited a number of organisations to submit proposals on how they might use the funds and after an exhaustive selection process, accepted the proposal from the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA).
SEA chairman John Gwyther said, "The quality of all proposals was extremely high, however, the AIIA proposal was more consistent with SEA's objectives and contained a number of concrete and positive outcomes for the local software industry."
The AIIA will use the funds to undertake a two-year program to research issues that impact the development of the local software industry. The program will also address the areas deemed to be critical or highly beneficial to the industry and will facilitate the growth of Australian software companies. The funds will enable the AIIA to add a software quality accreditation component to its current training, mentoring and networking program.
"We are naturally disappointed that SEA is not able to continue as a commercial entity. However, the action taken by the Board to sell SEA's training and consulting business and transfer its funds to the AIIA, ensures that the software industry will benefit from SEA's work," said John Gwyther.
SEA was established in 1999 by the Federal Government Department of Communications Information Technology and the Arts (DoCITA). It was funded for four years under a grant. Since September 2003, it has been operating as a privately funded, not-for-profit business.