(Written by SOFTEC Team and edited by Omar Shaikh, Techistan)
SOFTEC is an annual 2-day I.T. extravaganza held at FAST National University (FAST-NU), is organized and executed by SOFTEC Society (the largest student society of the university). Since the inaugural event in 1995, thousands have participated in the Software project competitions for undergraduate students. It is comprised of a dozen events drawing interest from every age group from school-aged students to I.T. professionals. Exponential growth over the years is not limited to the number of participants and visitors alone; the budget of this event has correspondingly risen, with SOFTEC 2009 boasting a budget of around 4.5 million. Techistan is serving as a press agent and media partner to this empowering event with 30,000 participants in 2009.

Sign up to attend Softec 2010 at http://www.softec.org.pk/.

SOFTEC 2010, scheduled for the 20th and 21st of March, will include the following international events: the Software Idea Competition, the Programming Competition, the G3n.X Gaming Competition, the Microcontroller Interfacing Competition, the Engineering Project and Idea Competition. IdeasXtreme, a competition geared for school-going children, completes the full complement of competitions in SOFTEC 2010.

FAST-NU: THE HOME OF SOFTEC
The National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES-FAST) is credited as the first multi-campus university in the private education sector in Pakistan. It was established by the Federal Government on July 1, 2000 under Ordinance Number XXIII of 2000 issued by President General Pervaiz Musharraf.

In 2001, the Peshawar Campus was added on to the list of the esteemed campuses of FAST-NU. All four campuses have added prestige to the name FAST-NU and have facilitated the university’s movement towards excellence and leadership.
The Lahore Campus further enriched its education program by instituting Bachelors in Telecommunication Engineering (TE) and Computer Engineering (CE) programs, as well as a PhD program in the year 2003.

In 1991, FAST-NU Karachi campus launched its Masters in Computer Science (MCS) program to enhance the educational experience of its students.

Along with these degrees the Islamabad Campus offers BS degrees in Telecommunication Engineering, Business Administration and in Computer Engineering.

Besides a BS degree in Computer science the Peshawar Campus also offers BS degrees in Business Administration and in Telecommunications Engineering.

The event has become an annual feature at FAST-NU, and each year SOFTEC grows larger and attracts an increasing number of participants. The annual SOFTEC event is now the most anticipated, the most promoted and the most participated-in event held in the FAST-NU. The extravaganza includes events like the Software Idea, Programming, and Gaming Competition along with exhibitions from school-going students, software houses, hardware distributors, internet service providers, and web hosting companies. The numerous activities of SOFTEC draw a huge variety of people, from professionals to the average everyday citizen. More than 25,000 people attended SOFTEC 2008, nearly 30,000 attended SOFTEC 2009, and, in accordance with this trend, the turn out will be proportionately larger for SOFTEC 2010.

SOFTEC hopes to continue this trend and promises to draw even greater international participation this time.

SOFTEC Society, the organizing body of the annual SOFTEC event, is the largest student society of FAST-NU. Its inspired establishment by a group of students of the FAST-NU Lahore campus transpired in 1995. A president along with an executive team is chosen from the student body each year to organize the event. In addition to the SOFTEC Society team (pictured above), a large percentage of the student body of the Lahore campus works as volunteers to help make this event a success. In SOFTEC 2009, volunteers from the student body numbered in excess of 500, out of a total campus population of approximately 2500-3000..

Starting from humble beginnings, it is inspiring to witness the astounding progress of the SOFTEC society. The motive force behind all SOFTEC endeadevours is its broad and evolving vision:
1-To create a fusion of expression and a desire to create which we hope shall result in a rich technological as well as artistic experience
2-Aiming to provide a platform for technological advancement and at the same time inspiring creativity
3-Strive to inspire innovation and creativity, thus motivating the upcoming generation to transform I.T. visions into reality
4-Establish SOFTEC as a major international I.T. event
6-Provide an environment that nurtures creative ideas
7-Create a healthy and rigorous competition among participants, allowing them to demonstrate their true potential and skills

It has helped achieve higher levels of awareness among the general public and has had very favorable responses both from the academic as well as the industrial sector.

In 2005, SOFTEC achieved a monumental feat by organizing an All Asia event. SOFTEC 2007 was even a bigger success as a significant number of students participated from all over Asia. Having established SOFTEC regionally as an I.T. event of exceptional standing, appealing to people of all age-groups, SOFTEC 2010 will attempt to expand its activities to focus on aspects of I.T. not previously afforded individual treatment.

Over the years, SOFTEC has evolved from a single-competition event focused in Pakistan, to a complement of near a dozen different events and competitions, with a participant base spread not merely nationally, but regionally. National participation had been a staple in SOFTEC since its advent, but 2005 was the year that SOFTEC broke national barriers and went global by inviting participants from across Asia to join in the extravaganza. Our most popular and long-standing competitions, namely the Software Idea Competition, Programming Competition, and G3n.X Gaming Competition, are now open to participants through out Asia.

SOFTEC 2005 saw more than fifty participants from other Asian countries partaking in the event, and was a success. The event offered its international participants entry into the two international events of the year: Software Competition and Dynamic Programming Competition. The event was also remarkable because SOFTEC invited important guest speakers from outside the country to speak on Information Technology related issues. SOFTEC 2005 proved very fruitful in terms of international exposure and investment in Pakistan. SOFTEC 2006 saw even more international participation, with sixty-five participants arriving to represent institutes from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Singapore and many others. Both international participants, and national participants based outside Lahore, are accommodated for free by SOFTEC, with the Society covering all food and sundry expenses. SOFTEC Society takes special care to make international participants feel welcome. The whole SOFTEC team is very co-operative. Sayra, Asian University of Bangladesh, Bangladesh
“Coming to SOFTEC 2006 has been a great experience… This is a great event and we are grateful to the SOFTEC 2006 [Society] for letting us come here.

Thank you.”
Udeep Tandukar, Kathmandu University, Nepal

SOFTEC 2010 will be the sixth International event and the fifteenth of its kind in Pakistan. The society hopes to host a number of international participants from countries including India, China, Japan, Bangladesh, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Europe and the Middle East for this sixth international event.
The main events of SOFTEC 2010 are:
Competitions:
Software Competition
Programming Competition
G3n.X Gaming Competition
Microcontroller Interfacing Competition
IdeasXtreme Competition
Exhibitions:
Software Exhibition
Software House Enclosure
Sponsor Enclosure
Kidz Corner
Recreation:
Food Court
Fun event

The Software Competition was the very first event included in the roster of SOFTEC, in its advent in 1995. This competition brings together students internationally to display their software projects for formal judging by a team of experts, providing participants with valuable feedback and experience of real-world evaluation benchmarks. In each separate category, the participants’ software projects will be filtered through three rigorous rounds of analysis by the judges. Apart from the competition itself, the participants also get a chance to display their software projects for the general public throughout the event.

1st Prize (Undergraduate) PKR 80,000 , 2nd Prize (Undergraduate) PKR 50,000 Under 18 PKR 18,000

The Programming Competition (formerly the Dynamic Programming Competition) is a challenging arena, attracting bright and sharp minds from across the world. Programming under timed conditions tests the skills and grit of the participants involved to the limit. SOFTEC 2010 will provide local participants the opportunity to match their skills with a much wider field of competitors than otherwise available. The competition is structured to test participants in the arena of speed programming –coming up with a solution to a complex question in limited time.

The distribution of prizes for this event is as follows:

1st Prize PKR 30,000, 2nd Prize PKR 15,000,

The profession of gaming is rapidly gaining ground in Pakistan. G3n.X is an International Gamers Assembly run by dedicated gamers amongst the student body of FAST-NU. The gaming competition also draws intense interest from spectators. In view of the popularity of this event, G3n.X in SOFTEC 2010 will include Console Gaming & Gaming Display, an exhibition of the latest from the world of gaming, set up by distinguished companies in the local gaming sector.

In SOFTEC 2007, the G3n.X Gaming Competition (financially sponsored by WorldCall Wireless & technically sponsored by Neomatrix) again managed to cross borders, hosting participants from India as well as locals. Counterstrike 1.6 (5 vs. 5)

1 Prize PKR 25,000
2 Prize PKR 10,000
WarCraft III Dota (5 vs. 5)
1st Prize PKR 25,000
2nd Prize PKR 10,000
Call of Duty (2 vs. 2)
1st Prize PKR 8,000
2nd Prize PKR 4,000
Need For Speed MW\Carbon (1 vs. 1)
1st Prize PKR 4,000
2nd Prize PKR 2,000
FIFA Soccer (1 vs. 1)
1st Prize PKR 4,000
2nd Prize PKR 2,000
Age of Empires (4 vs. 4)
1st Prize PKR 16,000
2nd Prize PKR 8,000

The exceedingly ambitious hardware-based projects submitted to the software competition in recent years, as well as our institute’s steps into the hardware engineering education arena, prompted us to initiate this competition exclusively for engineering projects of undergraduate students across Pakistan. For the first time, this competition is open for international participants. The prizes for this competition are delineated below.

1st Prize PKR 50,000 , 2nd Prize PKR 25,000

This competition, like the Engineering Project competition, was a new event launched in SOFTEC 2007. SOFTEC 2010 is going to start embedded robots exhibition along with the Microcontroller interfacing competition. This international competition will, we hope, provide undergraduate students an opportunity to match wits with their contemporaries in a highly professional atmosphere, lending credence to their skills as future hardware professionals.
The prizes for this competition are delineated below.

1st Prize PKR 30,000, 2nd Prize PKR 15,000, Best Embedded Robot PKR 8,000

IdeasXtreme creates a forum for school- going children to bring to the public purview their ideas of the uses of I.T. in the future.

This extremely successful event was first launched in 2003, when the need for an event in the SOFTEC line-up to inculcate an understanding of I.T. in children, as well as adults, was deeply felt. From an initial basis only in Lahore, this event grew to become a national event by SOFTEC 2004. IdeasXtreme sees increased participation every year, and the SOFTEC 2007 event, sponsored by Cybernet, saw well over a hundred entries.
KG – 4th Grade
1st Prize PKR 8,000, 2nd Prize PKR 4,000,
5th – 8th Grade
1st Prize PKR 12,000
2nd Prize PKR 8,000
9th – 12th Grade
1st Prize PKR 15,000
2nd Prize PKR 10,000

Kidz Corner, a special area dedicated just to the kids who visit SOFTEC, was inaugurated in 2004. Each year Kidz Corner is decorated with a different theme extracted from cartoons, movies or fun places for kids giving Kidz Corner a different feel and a different environment each time. In the year 2007, the theme for Kidz Corner was “Peter Pan” and in SOFTEC 2008 Kidz Corner was decorated following the theme of “Sponge Bob”.

Kidz Corner is all about entertaining children, and teaching them in the process. Kidz Corner gives children their earliest experiences with technology.

Last year, the Kidz Corner team of SOFTEC visited various schools in Lahore to invite young students to participate in Kidz Corner in a quiz competition. The idea was to form teams of students, each team consisting of students from different schools and then holding a competition among them. Kidz Corner has received much support and encouragement. The Federal Minister of I.T. was full of praise for Kidz Corner, SOFTEC 2005:
In order to commemorate the fine tradition of the founding event of SOFTEC, SOFTEC 2010 will include an exhibition of all winning entries to the Software unique exhibition, which will allow people to trace the profound influence.

This enclosure houses software products from a variety of software houses. A live rendering of the products assists in comprehending and appreciating the talents at display. In SOFTEC 2010, a group of software houses from a much larger pool than previously tapped will be offered the opportunity to participate.

The most versatile vendors display their unique and innovative designs and state of the art technologies here. It not only provides visitors a chance to view the latest hardware trends, but also to understand the cutting edge technology behind it. In SOFTEC 2010, society is also revising its book fair and DVDs’ exhibition on special discounted prices.

Just as in all previous years, SOFTEC 2010 will indubitably play host to a great number of I.T. industry players offering their services to visitors.

The food court contains everything from salads to barbecue, a variety of local dishes to sodas to shakes and ice cream.

The food court provides the organizers and the visitors a constant source of rejuvenation, while providing the stall owners with a constant source of customers.

SOFTEC team, faculty, participants and students from FAST-NU gather in to applause for this enthusiastic evening. In SOFTEC 2007, among other performances, Entertainment Evening included marvelous performance from famous Pakistani music band “CALL”. In SOFTEC 2010, the SOFTEC society has decided to uproar the crowd once again with these exciting events. Join their Facebook group!