Friday, May 17, 2002

Carnegie Mellon U. Leads Project to Promote More-Dependable Software By DAN CARNEVALE Washington Carnegie Mellon University announced on Thursday the formation of a group of businesses and government agencies to develop higher technical standards for computer software that would make the software more dependable and less prone to problems such as crashing unexpectedly. The group, called the Sustainable Computing Consortium, will conduct research on software design, dependability, and governance. New standards and guidelines will then be developed to make computers free of bugs and safer from hacker attacks. With just about every business and person in America owning or using computers, it's becoming more critical that software works well, Jim Morris, dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, said at a news conference here. "Like the automobile, we've become so dependent on our computer systems that we've got to make them work better," he said. Software defects cost businesses around the world $175-billion in 2001, according to the consortium. Making computer systems more reliable should save businesses money and make people's lives easier, said William L. Guttman, director of the consortium. The consortium hopes to announce some new technical standards within a year. As new software designs and standards are developed, the group expects software companies to apply them to new products as a result of market demand, Mr. Guttman said. He said he doesn't see a need for legal regulations. So far, in addition to Carnegie Mellon, 18 public and private entities have joined the consortium, including Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, Raytheon, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The consortium has raised $30-million so far, with each member paying $125,000 and with grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The consortium plans to add more members and search for additional outside funds. Having reliable computer systems isn't science fiction, Henry McDonald, director of NASA's Ames Research Center, said at the news conference. The space agency needs to have all of its computer systems working perfectly or else NASA could waste millions of dollars on equipment -- as was the case with two Mars probes that malfunctioned -- or worse, astronauts could die. "NASA has been somewhat on the forefront of creating ultra-reliable computers," Mr. McDonald said. "When we miss, as we did two times with Mars, the whole world points, and it creates a degree of embarrassment." Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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