One Institute with Global Impact and Presence

Media Contact:
Kelly Kimberland
412-268-4793
public-relations@sei.cmu.edu

PITTSBURGH, Pa., and FRANKFURT, Germany, October 15, 2002 - Carnegie Mellon University  announces the international expansion of its Software Engineering Institute  (SEI) with the opening of an office at An der Welle 4 in central Frankfurt,  Germany today.

The opening is in response to strong European demand for the  development of products based on quality software. SEI-Europe, in partnership  with its licensees, will provide the training, knowledge and research to support  the development of quality software.

Mark Kamlet, provost of Carnegie Mellon University, explained  that the opening of an office in Europe enhances Carnegie Mellon and the Software  Engineering Institute's ability to serve its European research customers and  technology licensees.

"By expanding our borders internationally, Carnegie Mellon is  positioned to provide top-tier educational resources, and research and development  opportunities. The office in Europe serves as an important gateway for us and  embodies the principles of education and training on which Carnegie Mellon was  founded," Kamlet said.

Stephen E. Cross, chief executive officer of the SEI, stated  that European industrial users, licensees and research partners will be better  able to adopt the institute's advanced software engineering practices.

"Over the past five years, Europe has grown to be a very strong  commercial-user community in the usage of new SEI technologies," Cross said.  "This office demonstrates our commitment to our diverse European stakeholders,  licensees, industry users and academia."

The SEI-Europe office will promote the institute's commitment  to quality software development through public course offerings, colloquia and  meetings, as well as providing university-level courses. The public courses,  which include courses about Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI ), support  the adoption and transition of SEI technologies. Most important, European organizations  licensed by the SEI as transition partners, along with SEI staff and visiting  scientists, will deliver these courses to key European industries such as aerospace,  automotive, automation, telecommunications and finance.

Heading the SEI-Europe office is Geir Fagerhus. Fagerhus is  the founder and former chief executive officer of Q-Labs, a leading international  professional services company specializing in software engineering practices  headquartered in Denmark.

"Our vision is that European users of SEI practices routinely  deliver the right software, defect free, on time, on cost every time," said  Fagerhus. "Quality software is industry best practice. Quality software is software  that always works."

Born in Karlsruhe, Germany, Fagerhus holds a B.Sc., combined  honours degree in physics and computing science from the University of Glasgow,  Scotland, and now lives in Sweden. Prior to leading Q-Labs, Fagerhus worked  with advanced, software-intensive communication products for air traffic control,  holding positions first in development and later in management and customer  support at Ericsson. He is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and  Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the International Software Engineering Research  Network (ISERN).

Founded in 1984, the SEI core purpose is to help organizations  make measured improvements in their software engineering capabilities by providing  technical leadership to advance the practice of software engineering. Internationally  recognized for CMMI^® and the CERT^® Coordination  Center, the United States first and best-known computer emergency response team,  the SEI works with industry and government communities to identify, mature,  transition and facilitate the broad adoption of new and improved software practices.  In addition to the Frankfurt office, the SEI has offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;  Arlington, Virginia; Denver, Colorado; and Huntsville, Alabama.

Information about the SEI, CMMI and public course offerings  can be found at http://www.sei.cmu.edu  or by contacting SEI's customer relations team at customer-relations@sei.cmu.edu.  

Carnegie Mellon is an internationally recognized institution  with a distinctive mix of world-class educational and research programs in computer  science, robotics, engineering, the sciences, business, public policy, fine  arts and the humanities. Carnegie Mellon leverages its existing strengths to  benefit society in the areas of biotechnology, information and security technology,  environmental science and practices, the fine arts and humanities. The university  has one of the most technologically sophisticated campuses in the world. More  information about Carnegie Mellon can be found at http://www.cmu.edu/.