IEEE INFOCOM 2004 meeting report
prepared by Victor O.K. Li, General Chair
Chair Professor of Information Engineering, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
IEEE INFOCOM 2004 was held in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong, China, March 7 – 11, 2004.I am very happy to report that, thanks to the help of many volunteers from around the world, the conference has been a great success.Although IEEE INFOCOM is an established conference (this is the 23rd annual conference), and considered perhaps the most prestigious conference in telecommunications and networking, the Executive Committee realizes we need to work hard to ensure its success.As one may recall, SARS was still a major concern for many potential authors on July 1 2003, the paper submission deadline.In fact, there were quite a few calls for us to move the conference elsewhere.This option was considered, but given that the Committee has already invested nearly two years worth of planning at that point, it was decided INFOCOM should stay in Hong Kong.(Yes, we do have a contingency plan in case SARS is still a problem and we have to move the conference.)In addition, due to budget cuts, some organizations in the US, traditionally providing the largest number of attendees to IEEE INFOCOM, and for that matter, to most IEEE conferences, have restricted conference trips outside the US.Therefore, we are greatly relieved to find a record number of submissions – 1420 from 45 different countries!(261 papers are included in the conference after a very rigorous review process, making this INFOCOM the most selective ever.) Apparently, INFOCOM in Hong Kong is attractive enough to many researchers that they want to attend despite the threats of SARS and budget cuts.
The conference turn out is respectable, with over 500 attendees.The registration fees, together with the corporate sponsorships, allow us to return a surplus to the IEEE.All of the attendees I have the chance to talk to at the conference are very happy, not only with the technical program, but also with the services provided by the conference venue, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the conference hotel, the Grand Hyatt.As part of the technical program, we have two keynote addresses, one from industry, and one from academia.There are also eight tutorials on various “hot” topics, and three panel discussions.Hutchison Telecommunications has just rolled out their 3G service in Hong Kong a month before INFOCOM, and they set up a booth at the conference to show some interesting demos.Of course IEEE INFOCOM is not “all work and no play.”There is a very good turnout at the Welcome Reception, and everyone enjoy the food and drinks, and the Lion Dance sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourist Association.The Executive Committee is also treated to a cruise of Hong KongHarbour on the Sunday evening before the conference.
Organizing IEEE INFOCOM 2004 in Hong Kong has been a most memorable experience for me.I have enjoyed working with my friends and fellow researchers from around the world.To my fellow IEEE members in the Asia Pacific who may be contemplating bringing an IEEE conference to this region, I strongly encourage you to do so.Yes, it will be hard work, but this is an excellent opportunity for you to show off your home town to your friends from around the world.Moreover, having the conference in the Asia Pacific means one less trans-continental trip for all of us IEEE members who live here.
A Report on 2004 IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS 2004)
Prepared by Raouf Boutaba, Young-Hyun Cho, Masayoshi Ejiri, and Seong-Beom Kim,
The 9th biannual IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium (NOMS 2004, www.noms2004.org) was held 19-23 April, 2004 in COEXConvention Center, Seoul, Korea, and presented the latest approaches and technical solutions in the area of network operations and management. Held in the even-numbered years since 1988, NOMS 2004 continues the established tradition of NOMS and the Integrated Management Symposium (IM) as the primary forum for technical exchange among the research, standards, development, systems integrator, service provider, and user communities. An exciting, peer-reviewed program of technical sessions, application sessions, panels, tutorials, posters, and vendor exhibits addressed the ever-increasing interest in overall management solutions for all types of communications and computing networks, systems, services and enterprise applications. NOMS 2004 was sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee on Network Operations and Management (CNOM), and by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 6.6 on Management of Networks and Distributed Systems, and was cooperated with KICS KNOM and IEICE TM.
The theme for NOMS 2004 was “Managing Next Generation Convergence Networks and Services”. The theme was chosen to reflect the current convergence trend of telecommunications and information technology (IT) and to represent the excitement and diversity present in this composite field. The concept of network and service convergence has recently emerged as a new attempt for the merging of telephony, data networks and information technology into a single, multi-service network exploiting the ubiquity of the Internet.To make business models associated with converged networks and services increasingly attractive, in both wired and wireless domains, strategic research is required to devise the best integration architectures, and appropriate accompanying integrated operations and management solutions. This creates a unique opportunity for the network operations and management community to respond to the ever-increasing demand for network resilience, security and security management, quality-of-service and mobility management at unprecedented scales. NOMS 2004 provided such a forum for discussing these research challenges and many other challenges inherent to the operation and management of next generation converged networks and services. This ninth edition of the symposium strengthened the established tradition of NOMS, along with IM, as the premier technical network management symposia.
In accordance with the challenging theme set for NOMS 2004 by the Organizing Committee, the Technical Program Committee (TPC), whose membership represented 19 countries in Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas, broadened the scope of the IM and NOMS symposia series.The scope of NOMS 2004 included several new areas such as network planning, service engineering and business processes for network and service management. Special attention was given to experiences that emphasize lessons learned and report on practice from industry. The scope of topics within these areas included the management of a plethora of network devices and systems, multiple inter-connected networking technologies, embedded and ad hoc environments and the complexity of distributed applications and operation support systems (OSS).
During the last plenary session, a Distinguished Expert Panel chaired by Mehmet Ulema (Professor, Manhattan College, USA) took place. The panelists were Ilsoo Ahn (Vice President, Samsung Electronics Co., Korea), Rolf Stadler (Professor, KTH, Sweden), Tadanobu Okada (Vice President, NTT, Japan), Fernando Cuervo (Senior Researcher, Alcatel, Canada), and Duane Elmquist (Vice President, Telcordia Technologies, USA). Each of the panelists presented his expert view on the role of network management in reviving the telecom industry. During the 3 days of the symposium and in parallel to the technical, applications and panel session, an exhibition took place. This was one of the biggest exhibitions organized during the past IM/NOMS events. In addition to key vendors of network operations and management products, the exhibition included booths for organizations such as the IEEE Communications Society, the Tele-Management Forum as well as a booth dedicated to the launch of the IEEE Communications Society electronic Transactions on Network and Service Management. Overall, NOMS 2004 through its technical and social program provided a great experience to the 425 attendees. The high participation of attendees from the Asia Pacific region is worth noting here. Indeed, out of the 425 participants, 264 are from Korea and 58 from Japan. NOMS 2004 will be remembered as one of the best in the history of IM/NOMS.
We thank the authors of all submitted manuscripts for their effort and creativity. We owe much to the reviewers from within and from outside the TPC, and to the session chairs who ensured that the accepted papers addressed the concerns raised during the reviews. We express our sincere thanks to all members of the NOMS 2004 organizing committee, participating IEEE ComSoc staff and IFIP staff, panel organizers, keynote speakers, panelists and authors who presented their high quality work in NOMS 2004.
Wireless and Optical Communications Conference (WOCC) 2004Meeting Report
Prepared by Li-Chun Wang,
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Engineering Department, NationalChiaoTungUniversity, Hsinchu, Taiwan
lichun@cc.nctu.edu.tw
About WOCC
The Wireless and Optical Communications Conference (WOCC) is held once a year to exchange information from China, Taiwan, Hong-Kong, Singapore, and the United States on the progress of technologies in the wireless and optical communications arena. This conference was usually held in USA. This is the first time that this conference was held outside the US. The main objective of the annual conference is to strengthen the technical and business relationships between the Asian and North American wireless and optical communications industries and provide a forum to bring together experts and industry leaders to exchange advancement in wireless and optical communications technologies, business experiences, and jointly explore new opportunities. |
