DSM

The Middleware Advanced Workshops program started in 2000 with the 1st Workshop on Reflective Middleware in New York. The surprising success of this first workshop, both in number of submission and number of participants, motivated the continuation of the Workshop program in the following events of the Middleware series. In Heidelberg, Middleware'2001 hosted two well attended workshops on Mobile Computing and Electronic Commerce, always focusing on research within the middleware area. In Rio, Middleware'2003 expanded the program with an open Call for Workshops that resulted in four high-quality workshops: Mobile and Ad-Hoc Computing, Reflective and Adaptive Middleware, Grid Computing, and Model-Driven Approaches.

The preparation for the 2004 edition of the Middleware workshops started in late 2003 with the Call for Workshop Proposals. We received seven good, well planned proposals and, with the help of experts in the Middleware field, four workshops were selected. The selection criteria was based on adherence to the conference theme and objectives, capacity of attracting a good number of researchers and practitioners, whether the proposal was backed by well-known, active researchers in the field, and the overall formal quality of the proposal.

For the first time, we will host a Doctoral Symposium, equivalent to similar events in other conferences such as OOPSLA. It is organized by Edward Curry from the National University of Ireland and Doug Lea from SUNY Oswego. During the Doctoral Symposium, 8 PhD candidates will present their theses work to a first-class Mentor Committee composed of some of the top Middleware researchers in the world. The goal of the symposium is to expose the students to helpful criticism before their thesis defense. Students beginning their research are also encouraged to attend the workshop as observers to better understand how to structure a research project and learn from the experience of others. The first edition of the Symposium will be highly international with the participation of PhD candidates from Brazil, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

The Workshop on Middleware for Grid Computing was very successful in Rio and now, organized by Bruno Schulze (LNCC, Brazil) and Radha Nandkumar (NCSA/UIUC, USA), is in its second edition. It received 48 paper submissions from which 15 papers were selected. This workshop will also host a specific poster session with 9 posters. The Workshop on Middleware for Pervasive and Ad-Hoc Computing also started well in Rio and this year, organized by Paddy Nixon from Strathclyde University (UK) grew both in quantity and quality attracting papers from the lead researchers in the international community.

Last but not least, the Workshop on Adaptive and Reflective Middleware continues very healthy. In its third edition it continues to be a venue for researchers working on the middleware core, finding new ways of structuring it to make it more flexible, adaptable, and efficient. This year, it is being organized by Fabio Costa (UFG, Brazil) and Nanbor Wang (Tech-X Corp., USA).