From jq@lirmm.lirmm.fr Wed Nov 2 12:35:27 1994 Received: from [193.49.104.48] ([193.49.104.48]) by lirmm.lirmm.fr (8.6.9/8.6.4) with SMTP id MAA03609; Wed, 2 Nov 1994 12:35:23 +0100 Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 12:35:23 +0100 Message-Id: <199411021135.MAA03609@lirmm.lirmm.fr> X-Sender: jq@lirmm.lirmm.fr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Mailer: Eudora F1.4 To: reitz, js, pierre, pompidor, vignal, dony, jambaud, esfandia@lune.lirmm.fr From: yves@inf.ufrgs.br (Yves Demazeau) (transmis par jq@lirmm.lirmm.fr (Joel Quinqueton)) Subject: ca doit pouvoir interesser.... Status: RO From: Kong Eng Cheng Call for Participation Third International Workshop on Feature Interactions in Telecommunications Software Systems Kyoto, Japan October 11-13, 1995 Description This workshop is the third in a series, whose mission is to encourage researchers from a variety of computer science specialties (software engineering, enterprise modeling, protocol engineering, distributed artificial intelligence, formal techniques, software testing, and distributed systems, among others) to apply their techniques to the feature interaction problem that arises in building telecommunications software systems (see the back page for a description of the problem). We welcome papers on avoiding, detecting, and/or resolving feature interactions using either analytical or structural approaches. Submissions are encouraged in (but are not limited to) the following topic areas: - Classification of feature interactions. - Modeling, reasoning, and testing techniques for detecting feature interactions. - Software platforms and architecture designs to aid in avoiding, detecting, and resolving feature interactions. - Tools and methodologies for promoting software compatibility and extensibility. - Mechanisms for managing feature interactions throughout the service life-cyle. - Management of feature interactions in PCS, ISDN, and Broadband services, as well as IN services. - Management of feature interactions in various of the operations support functions such as Service Negotiation, Service Management, and Service Assurance. - Feature Interactions and their potential impact on system Security and Safety. - Environments and automated tools for related problems in other software systems. - Management of Feature Interactions in various other enterprises, such as banking, medicine, etc. Format We hope to promote a dialogue among researchers in various related areas, as well as the designers and builders of telecommunications software. To this end, the workshop will have sessions for paper presentations, including relatively long discussion periods. Panel discussions and tool demonstrations are also planned. The first day of the workshop, October 11, is devoted to tutorials and discussions on areas related to feature interactions. Attendance Workshop attendance will be limited to 100 people. Attendance will be by invitation only. Prospective attendees are asked to submit either a paper (maximum 5000 words) or a single page description of their interests and how they relate to the workshop. Proposals for tutorials and discussions are also requested (maximum 3000 words). About 16-20 of the attendees will be asked to present talks; a small number of tutorials and/or discussions will also be selected. We will strive for an equal mix of theoretical results and practical experiences. Papers will be published in a conference proceedings. Submissions Please send five copies of your full original paper or interest description to: Kong Eng Cheng Department of Computer Science Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology GPO Box 2476V Melbourne, Victoria AUSTRALIA 3001 E-mail: kec@cs.rmit.edu.au Tel: +61 3 660 3266 FAX: +61 3 662 1617 Important dates are: February 28, 1995: Submission of contributions. May 15, 1995: Notification of acceptance. June 26, 1995: Submission of camera-ready versions. Workshop Co-chairpersons Tadashi Ohta (ATR, Japan) Nancy Griffeth (Bellcore, USA) Program Committee Co-Chairpersons: Kong Eng Cheng (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia) E. Jane Cameron (Bellcore, USA) Jan Bergstra (CWI and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Ralph Blumenthal (Bellcore, USA) Rolv Braek (SINTEF DELAB, Norway) Bernie Cohen (City University of London, UK) Robert France (Florida Atlantic University, USA) Haruo Hasegawa (OKI, Japan) Dieter Hogrefe (University of Bern, Switzerland) Richard Kemmerer (UCSB, USA) Victor Lesser (University of Massachusetts, USA) Yow-Jian Lin (Bellcore, USA) Luigi Logrippo (University of Ottawa, Canada) Jan van der Meer (Ericsson, The Netherlands) Robert Milne (BNR, UK) Leo Motus (Tallinn Technical University, Estonia) Jacques Muller (CNET, France) Jan-Olof Nordenstam (ELLEMTEL, Sweden) Yoshihiro Niitsu (NTT, Japan) Ben Potter (University of Hertfordshire, UK) Henrikas Pranevicius (Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania) Martin Sadler (HP, UK) Jean-Bernard Stefani (CNET, France) Greg Utas (BNR, USA) Jyri Vain (Institute of Cybernetics, Estonia) Hugo Velthuijsen (PTT Research, The Netherlands) Yasushi Wakahara (KDD R&D Laboratories, Japan) Ron Wojcik (BellSouth, USA) Pamela Zave (AT&T Bell Laboratories, USA) Workshop Statement The feature interaction problem is a major obstacle to the rapid deployment of new telephone services. Some feature communications system. Telecommunications software is huge, real-time, and distributed; adding new features to a telecommunication system, like adding new functionalities to any large software system, can be very difficult. Each new feature may interact with many existing features, causing customer annoyance or total system breakdown. Traditionally, interactions were detected and resolved on a feature by feature basis by experts who are knowledgeable on all existing features. As the number of features grows to satisfy diverse needs of customers, managing feature interactions in a single administrative domain is approaching incomprehensible complexity. In a future marketplace where features deployed in the network may be developed by different operating companies and their associated vendors, the traditional approach is no longer feasible. How to detect, resolve, or even prevent the occurrence of feature interactions in an open network is now an important research issue. The feature interaction problem is not unique to telecommunications software; similar problems are encountered in any long-lived software system that requires frequent changes and additions to its functionality. Techniques in many related areas appear to be applicable to the management of feature interactions. Software methodologies for extensibility and compatibility, for example, could be useful for providing a structured design that can prevent many feature interactions from occurring. Features are typically design to suit the purposes of a user or business, hence Enterprise modeling will play a role in the identification of certain classes of interaction, in particular the solution of an interaction in one enterprise may not be desired by another. Formal specification, verification, and testing techniques, being widely used in protocol engineering and software engineering, contribute to the detection of interactions. Several causes of the problem, such as aliasing, timing, and the distribution of software components, are similar to issues in distributed systems. Cooperative problem solving, a promising approach for resolving interactions at run time, resembles distributed planning and resolution of conflicting subgoals among multiple agents in the area of distributed artificial intelligence. This workshop aims to provide an opportunity for participants to share ideas and experiences in their respective fields, and to apply their expertise to the feature interaction problem. Workshop Announcement 3nd International Workshop on Feature Interactions in Telecommunications Software Systems, October 11-13, Kyoto, Japan, Sponsors: IEEE Communications Society. In cooperation with ACM SIGCOMM and ATR, Japan. Contact Tadashi Ohta, ATR, 2-2, Hikari-dai, Seika-cho, Soraku-gun, Kyoto, 619-02, Japan, Tel: +81 7749 5 1230, Fax: +81 7749 5 1208, e-mail: ohta@atr-sw.atr.co.jp.