Computer Society`s IT Leader 2005 becomes president elect of international technology organisation

At the World Computer Congress and General Assembly in Chile Santiago this week, Professor Basie Von Solms was chosen as president elect of the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP). He will therefore become president at the General Assembly next year.

There were five strong contenders for the position. Von Solms won after three rounds of voting.

IFIP is a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella organisation for national societies working in the field of information processing. It was established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO as a result of the first World Computer Congress held in Paris in 1959.

Professor von Solms received the ICT Leadership award at the Annual Computer Society Presidents Awards Banquet in October 2005. This award given in conjunction with ITWeb, Gibs Business School and Gartner, and recognises exceptional leadership qualities over a number of years; sustainable contribution to the development and growth of the South African IT industry; and innovative use of IT to transform businesses, public services, communities and people`s lives.

Von Solms has been chairman of the Standard Bank Academy for Information Technology in Johannesburg, South Africa, since 1978.

He obtained his PhD in Computer Science at University of Johannesburg (formerly RAU) and has been lecturing Computer Science at this University since 1 October 1970.

The professor specialises in research and consultancy in the area of information security and has written more than 70 papers regarding this field - most of which have been published internationally. In addition, Prof von Solms has supervised over 13 PhD students and more then 30 Master students.

He is a member of the Reviewers` Board of the international journal Computer and Security.

Prof von Solms has been a consultant to industry on the subject of information security for the last 10 years, giving numerous papers, related to information security, at international conferences and is regularly invited to be a member of the Programme Committees for international conferences.

He is a fellow of, and serves on the Executive Council of the Computer Society South Africa, and is a member of the British Computer Society. The professor is also a Provisional Certificated Auditor for BS 7799.

* It is the leading multinational, apolitical organisation in information and communications technologies and sciences.
* Is recognised by the United Nations and other world bodies.
* Represents IT societies from 55 countries or regions, covering all five continents with a total membership of over half a million.
* It has links with more than 3 500 scientists from academia and industry, organised in more than 97 Working Groups reporting to 12 Technical Committees.
* IFIP sponsors 100 conferences yearly providing unparalleled coverage from theoretical informatics to the relationship between informatics and society including hardware and software technologies, and networked information systems.

IFIP`s mission is to be the leading, truly international, apolitical organisation which encourages and assists in the development, exploitation and application of information technology for the benefit of all people.

1. To stimulate, encourage and participate in research, development and application of IT and to foster international co-operation in these activities.
2. To provide a meeting place where national IT societies can discuss and plan courses of action on issues in our field which are of international significance and thereby to forge increasingly strong links between them and with IFIP.
3. To promote international co-operation directly and through national IT Societies in a free environment between individuals, national and international governmental bodies and kindred scientific and professional organisations.
4. To pay special attention to the needs of developing countries and to assist them in appropriate ways to secure the optimum benefit from the application of IT.
5. To promote professionalism, incorporating high standards of ethics and conduct, among all IT practitioners.
6. To provide a forum for assessing the social consequences of IT applications; to campaign for the safe and beneficial development and use of IT and the protection of people from abuse through its improper application.
7. To foster and facilitate co-operation between academics, the IT industry and governmental bodies and to seek to represent the interest of users.
8. To provide a vehicle for work on the international aspects of IT development and application including the necessary preparatory work for the generation of international standards.
9. To contribute to the formulation of the education and training needed by IT practitioners, users and the public at large.

IFIP traces its roots to the very first major international conference on computers and computing which was held in Paris in 1959 under the auspices of UNESCO. Representatives of the main computer societies active in computing got together at that meeting to explore ways of building on the achievements of the conference. As a result, 13 national computer societies agreed to found in 1960 an international federation and named it IFIP - the International Federation for Information Processing.

IFIP`s principal aims were and are to foster international cooperation, to stimulate research, development and applications and to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information on all aspects of computing and communication.

IFIP`s creation was well timed. In the 1960s there began a veritable explosion in the growth of the computer industry and in the application of its products. Within the lifespan of IFIP, information technology (as it is widely known today) has become a potent instrument affecting people in everything from their education and work to their leisure and in their homes. It is a powerful tool in science and engineering, in commerce and industry, in education and administration and in entertainment.

A General Assembly of all its members and TC chairs takes place annually and has overall responsibility for all of IFIP`s strategy, finance and activities. It elects a president, four vice-presidents, a treasurer, a secretary and eight trustees who together form the IFIP council.

IFIP`s flagship event is its World Computer Congress, currently held biannually.

The nature of these Congresses has changed substantially over the years. They are no longer of the all-singing and -dancing variety addressing every conceivable facet of our field. Instead they consist of a number of independent conferences, each dealing with a major specialised subject. These run in parallel so that some more general keynote addresses can be attended by all participants who can also share in social and other activities.

In addition, there are major international conferences organised by our technical committees. These include events dealing with production engineering, security, computers in education and human computer interaction.

At the heart of IFIP lie its technical committees that, between them, count on the active participation of some 2 000 people worldwide. There are 12 such committees. Each technical committee is, in effect, a management team responsible for a given field of activity and for the work of from three to nine working groups, a total of 80. These groups work in a variety of ways to share experience and to develop their specialised knowledge. These include open conferences, smaller working conferences, seminars and tutorials, circulated papers and, increasingly, as befits our subject, electronic conferencing and e-mail.

The administrative hub of IFIP is our secretariat at Laxenburg, near Vienna. The head of the IFIP secretariat is Eduard Dundler, who with the assistance of Brigitte Brauneis and Marion Smith, is responsible for the wide range of tasks vital to the operation of such a far-flung international body.