Approved: ifip-distr.chairman

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CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Middleware 2000 The International Conference on Distributed Systems Platforms and Open Distributed Processing April 4 - 8, 2000 Hudson Valley (near New York City) USA http://www.research.ibm.com/Middleware2000

The advance program is available on our web site. We invite you to register now to join us for this premier conference in April.

Sponsored by IFIP TC6 WG6.1 and ACM Supported by Agilent Technologies and IBM

CONFERENCE BACKGROUND --------------------- Middleware 2000 will be the premier conference on distributed systems platforms and open distributed processing in the opening year of the new millenium. The conference is a synthesis of the major conferences and workshops in this area into a single international event. Middleware 2000 follows in the footsteps of the extremely successful, inaugural Middleware '98 Conference held in the Lake District of the UK in September, 1998.

The focus of Middleware 2000 is on the design, implementation, deployment and evaluation of distributed systems platforms and architectures for future networked environments. Of particular interest is the application of both new and existing architectures and platforms (such as RM-ODP, CORBA, RMI and DCOM) in environments which may include public and private networks, overlayed wired and wireless technologies, IPv6 and IP multicast, multimedia and real-time information and an increasing volume of WWW and Java traffic.

SOME CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS -------------------------- Middleware 2000 is a single-track conference consisting of seven paper sessions, two keynote addresses, and a work-in-progress session. There will also be posters presented during breaks.

1) The seven paper sessions are on Messaging, Caching, Reflection, Indirection, Quality of Service, Transactions and Workflow, and Composition.

The details of the paper program is at: http://www.research.ibm.com/Middleware2000/Program/program.html

2) We are offering four tutorials by leading practitioners:

April 4 AM Tutorials:

T1. "Scalability Issues in CORBA-based Systems" Steve Vinoski, IONA Technologies

T2. "Designing with Patterns" John Vlissides, IBM TJ Watson Research Center

April 4 PM Tutorials:

T3. "Middleware for Programmable Networks" Andrew Campbell, Columbia University

T4. "Applying Patterns for Concurrent and Distributed Components" Frank Buschman, Siemens ZT

More information on the tutorials is at: http://www.research.ibm.com/Middleware2000/Tutorials/tutorials.html

3. We are organizing a workshop on Reflective Middleware (RM2000) that will be co-located with Middleware 2000.

Information on the RM2000 workshop can be found at: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/RM2000/

4. We will have two keynote addresses by visionaries in the field of middleware: Ken Birman, Professor at Cornell University, and Jim Waldo of Sun Microsystems.

5. We will have a work-in-progress paper session and multiple poster sessions.

Information on the WiP papers and posters will be available at: http://www.research.ibm.com/Middleware2000

LOCATION AND ACTIVITIES ----------------------- The conference will be held at the beautiful Hudson River Valley. The IBM Palisades Conference Center is a state-of-the-art meeting center on 106 acres of land, just north of New York City. Check out the URL. http://www.research.ibm.com/Middleware2000/Location/location.html

There will be social events as part of this year's conference, including a Welcome Reception where participants can meet the organizing team and other participants in an informal setting, as well as other socials. We will also be providing conference luncheons to all attendees on all three days of the conference. Lunch will also be provided to people attending the workshop on Fri/Sat and to those attending the tutorials on Tuesday. Information on these activities will be available on the conference web page.

REGISTRATION ------------ Don't delay and register today for Middleware 2000. It is THE conference to attend. With a great location, on a naturally rich Hudson Valley near culturally rich Manhattan, you can't ask for anything more. We look forward to seeing you there.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- Important URL for registration: http://www.regmaster.com/midd2000.html

Important Dates for registration: On or before March 2, 2000 : Discount on registration fees After March 2, 2000 or onsite : Regular registration fees ----------------------------------------------------------------------

-------- Guruduth Banavar Publicity Chair, Middleware 2000 Conference