The International Society for Micropiles (ISM) has finalized a strategic alliance agreement with the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) and the International Association of Foundation Drilling (ADSC). Through this strategic alliance, administration and support functions for the ISM will be assumed by ADSC and DFI, with the ISM operating as an entity within the ADSC/DFI joint micropile committee.

This alliance provides the opportunity to members of DFI and ADSC to be recognized as ISM delegates, and contribute to ISM’s mission at no additional cost in membership dues. By the same token, current ISM delegates will become members of DFI, ADSC or both in lieu of their ISM membership dues that will provide added access to the extensive technical and networking resources provided by those organizations.

ISM serves delegates in more than 24 countries on six continents. The ISM’s activites and strategic direction are led by current chairman, Allen Cadden, and an international steering committee comprised of representatives from each founding country, including Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. This steering committee will remain in place, and will now include a representative from both DFI and ADSC. ISM technical activities will be coordinated by DFI’s technical activites manager, Mary Ellen Bruce, and ADSC’s director of operations, Tony Marinucci.

Highlights from the ISM’s newsletter,The Bond Zone, will be reported in ADSC’sFoundation Drillingmagazine, and DFI’sDeep Foundationsmagazine. The ISM website,www.ismicropiles.org, is being updated to provide information on society and member activities and events, publications and micropile resources. As the alliance evolves, the website likely will be integrated with the ADSC and DFI websites.

Planning is currently underway, through the joint efforts of ADSC and DFI, for presentation of the 11th International Workshop on Micropiles (IWM) in late 2012, most likely to take place in Milan, Italy. More information on IWM 2012 will be available soon.