Dear Midas users, 

As part of our commitment to  Midas improvements, this year Dr. Stefan Ritt is coming to Vancouver 
BC, CANADA for his biennial visit from the end of June to mid-July 2015.

A Data acquisition system now a days is expected to do more than just collect data, it has become an 
integrated process with various types of data source for monitoring, control, storage and analysis, 
as well as data visualization using modern techniques.
MIDAS stands for "Maximum Integration Data Acquisition System". It is interesting to think that this 
name was given 20 years ago when none of the interconnectability was available at today's level. 

So in order to keep MIDAS current with new technology and provide a better DAQ tool, we plan to 
discuss topics that would address integration in a larger format, the goal being to provide to the 
users a more robust and "simple" way of doing their work. We will also be working on improvements 
and the addition of new features.

Towards the end of Stefan's visit, we will have a "Midas seminar" with a few presentations related 
to specific experiments managed by Triumf. Each talk will bring a different aspect of the DAQ that 
Midas had to deal with. This will potentially be a good starting point for further discussions.

We will broadcast this seminar. Webcast information will be provided in a later message, preliminary 
date: 13 or 14 July. I would encourage you to participate in this event, if not in person, at least 
virtually. It is a good time for you to send to Stefan (midas@psi.ch) or myself (midas@triumf.ca), 
questions, requests, wishes, issues that you experience, general comment that has been on the back 
of your mind but you didn't manage to submit to us. This would help us to better understand how 
Midas is used, where it is used, and what can be addressed to better serve your needs as a user. 

Let us know how Midas is helping you, we would really appreciate it. Let us also know if you are 
thinking of attending this virtual seminar. 

If you happen to be in the Vancouver vicinity around the end of June, you are most welcome to join 
us at Triumf. The Midas team will take the time to chat about Data Acquisition and perhaps the 
benefit of our west coast weather!

Best Regards, Pierre-André Amaudruz