A current trend in software architecture is to make use of the benefits of software components (i.e., software units with well defined requires and provides interfaces which contractually specify component deployment and inter-component dependencies and interactions). One of the expected benefits from a linkage of software architecture and components is the use of contractual interfaces specifications which allow the inference of global system properties (e.g., quality attributes) from local component properties and architectural interaction patterns. However, practice has shown that this linkage is not as straightforward as it seems and, therefore, further investigations are needed to overcome the respective problems.

The aim of the 2005 Australasian Workshop on Software and System Architectures (AWSA 2005) is to bring together practitioners and researchers to discuss ideas, exchange experiences and explore future directions in the area of software architectures and component-based software engineering. In particular, the workshop encourages submissions reporting industrial experiences (positive and negative) when using software components for architecting, configuring, or reengineering software and system architectures.

The localisation of software and web content for disparate users is essential for firms wishing to compete in the global IT market. Given the limited size of regional markets, and dominant vendors in many of the most important sectors, the issue is one of great moment for the future of software development in the Asia-Pacific region. While localisation of a small-scale application for a second environment may appear straightforward, ad hoc approaches are less successful as size and the number of target locales increase, and more complex applications may bring the costs of re- engineering into sharp relief.

Successful localisation to multiple environments requires a disciplined software engineering approach, with internationalisation and localisation integrated as part of the software development process. While significant progress has been made in this area in recent years, a number of issues remain fertile soil for ongoing research.

The Asia-Pacific Workshop on Software Internationalisation is designed to link academics and practitioners to foster progress in this key area. The workshop will feature a range of industry and academic presentations, and keynote addresses in machine translation and open source internationalisation.