Dear Colleague and Friend:

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I welcome you to the Second Annual VACETS International Technical Conference and present to you the Conference Proceedings. This conference is part of our on going effort to create an opportunity for overseas Vietnamese scientific and technical professionals to meet, exchange knowledge, and share our achievements. The purpose of the conference, in addition, is to foster professional friendship among conference participants, which is an important factor that helps us advance in this time of lightning-fast technological changes and global competitiveness.

This year conference has been re-vamped to include new topics of interest and new session formats. The conference covers a wide range of areas which represent the technical diversity of the membership of VACETS and conference participants. The Organizing Committee has been successful in attracting many excellent papers and presenters from the United States, Australia, Europe, and Asia. We expand the conference scope to encourage university students in Silicon Valley to participate. We organize three workshops and introduce a special session on Professional Career Development to assist students and new graduates in preparing their quest for professional advancement and enhancing on-the-job performance. The conference is also highlighted with two panel discussion sessions on "Information Technology Development In the Pacific Rim" and "Profile of a High-Tech Worker in 21st Century" which, due to its interactive nature, promise to create lively and interesting discussions.

We have also changed the delivery format of this year's conference proceedings. You can find in the accompanying CD-ROM all the articles being submitted as well as presented at the conference. Being on CD-ROM, the conference papers will be well kept into the many years to come; at the same time, we all can proudly participate in the preservation of our environment.

Cao Huu Tri, Ph.D.
Conference Chairman