PRELIMINARY CALL FOR PAPERS



ACM/IFIP/USENIX 12th International Middleware Conference

12 - 16 December 2011 - Lisbon, Portugal

http://2011.middleware-conference.org

The Middleware conference is a forum for the discussion of innovations and recent advances in the design, implementation, deployment, and usage of middleware systems. Middleware is the software that resides between applications and the underlying architecture. The goal of middleware is to facilitate the development of applications by providing higher-level abstractions for better programmability, performance, scalability, security, and a variety of essential features. It is a rapidly evolving and growing field.

Following the success of past conferences in this series, the 12th International Middleware Conference will be the premier event for middleware research and technology in 2011. The scope of the conference is the design, implementation, deployment, and evaluation of distributed system platforms and architectures for current and future computing, storage, and communication environments. Highlights of the conference will include a high quality technical program, invited speakers, an industrial track, poster and demo presentations, a doctoral symposium, and workshops.

Submissions on a diversity of topics are sought, particularly those identifying new research directions. The topics of the conference include, but are not limited to:

Middleware platforms:



Middleware for emerging cloud computing, datacenters, and server farms

Middleware for traditional clusters and grid computing

Middleware for mobile devices, ubiquitous, and mobile computing

Middleware for sensor and embedded systems

Middleware for Internet applications and social networks

Middleware for Web services, Web service composition, and SOA

Middleware for data-intensive computing

Event-based, publish/subscribe, and message-oriented middleware

Middleware support for multimedia and tele-immersion

Reconfigurable, adaptable, and reflective middleware approaches

Middleware solutions for distributed databases

Peer-to-peer middleware solutions



Systems issues for Middleware:



Reliability and fault-tolerance

Scalability and performance

Energy- and power-aware techniques

Virtualization, auto-scaling, provisioning, and scheduling

Security, Privacy, and Information assurance

Storage and file systems

Parallelized execution and techniques

Dynamic configuration and self- or autonomic- management of middleware

Real-time solutions and quality of service

Evaluation and deployment: challenges, techniques, and lessons learned



Design principles and tools:



Programming frameworks, parallel programming, and design methodologies for middleware

Empirical and deployment studies for middleware solutions

Debugging and distributed debugging of middleware

Probabilistic techniques and approaches for middleware

Methodologies and tools for middleware design, implementation, verification, and evaluation

Formal methods, verification, and software engineering for middleware

Security and Privacy

Old Wine: Revisiting classical middleware paradigms, e.g., object models, aspect orientation, etc.



Industry Papers




The conference strongly encourages submission of industry-focused papers and use case studies; full papers should be submitted to the main program, where they will be reviewed using appropriate criteria (e.g., emphasizing experience and system evolution), and accepted papers will be published in the main conference proceedings. Additionally, short industry-focused papers (5-6 pages, ACM style) may be submitted to a special industrial track; accepted short papers will be presented at the conference and published in the ACM Digital Library. Note that submissions to the main program may indicate a willingness to be referred to the Industrial Track if a paper is not accepted to the main program.



Big Ideas Papers




We particularly encourage "big ideas papers"; that is papers that have the potential for opening up new research directions. For such papers, the potential to motivate new research is more important than full experimental evaluation, though some preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of the approach or idea is important. Authors should indicate in the introduction that their paper is a vision of a big idea, rather than more mature work. Such papers should clearly indicate why the idea is revolutionary and not evolutionary; what the major questions still to be answered are; and possible avenues of attack for the community to pursue towards the development of the idea.



Submission Guidelines




The Middleware 2011 proceedings will be published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) both in print and in electronic form. Papers must not exceed 20 pages, including abstract, all figures, all tables, and references. Papers should include a short abstract and up to 6 keywords. Submitted papers should follow the formatting instructions of the Springer LNCS Style. The papers will also be published as part of the ACM Digital Library.



Important Dates




May 23, 2011 - Abstract Submission

May 30, 2011 - Paper Submission

August 1, 2011 - Notification of acceptance

September 7, 2011 - Camera ready due

12 - 16 December 2011 - Conference



There will be a separate call for workshops, for tutorials, and for the Doctoral Symposium.

Please check the website for dates.



Program Committee Chairs




Anne-Marie Kermarrec, INRIA-Rennes

Fabio Kon, USP



General Chairs




Paulo Ferreira, INESC-ID

Luís Veiga, INESC-ID