CLOSED: Special Issue on Special Issue on Programming Flexible Distributed Systems for the Internet Era

Important Dates

• Submission deadline: 30 April 2025
• Publication date: Sept/Oct 2025

Call for Papers

Distributed systems form the foundation of the modern internet, driving applications across cloud computing, IoT, and edge networks. However, the increasing complexity of distributed environments demands a new class of systems: those that are flexible, capable of scaling dynamically, adapting to changing conditions, and maintaining robust performance and security under varying workloads and threats.

Building such systems presents a significant challenge for developers. How do we design and program distributed systems that are not only scalable and adaptive but also robust and secure? This special issue seeks to address this question, focusing on the tools, techniques, and methodologies required to create scalable, adaptable, and resilient distributed systems that stand the test of real-world demands.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Programming Languages and Models: Innovations in programming languages, abstractions, and frameworks that facilitate the development of scalable and adaptive distributed systems.
• Scalable and Sustainable System Architectures: Design and implementation of distributed systems that seamlessly scale in response to user demand and resource availability, while optimizing energy efficiency (e.g., workload shifting) and supporting multi-tenancy to enable cost-effective operations.
• Resilience and Robustness: Techniques for programming systems that maintain operational integrity under failures, changing workloads, or adverse conditions.
• Dynamic Adaptation: Approaches to designing systems that can reconfigure or reprogram themselves autonomously to adapt to changing environments.
• Secure and Trustworthy Systems: Security and privacy solutions that integrate with and enhance the flexibility of distributed systems.
• Middleware for Adaptability: Advances in middleware technologies that simplify programming adaptive and secure distributed applications.
• AI-Augmented Flexibility: Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to predict, optimize, and adapt distributed systems to dynamic workloads.
• Development and Deployment Tools: Tools and methodologies for developers to test, debug, and deploy flexible distributed systems effectively.
• Case Studies and Best Practices: Real-world examples of building and programming systems that scale, adapt, and remain secure in diverse scenarios, such as cloud-native applications, edge computing, and IoT networks.

Submissions should emphasize practical solutions, programming techniques, and system design principles that address the triad of scalability, adaptability, and robustness while incorporating strong security foundations. We seek original contributions that provide actionable insights into programming and developing next-generation distributed systems.

Submission Guidelines

For author information and guidelines on submission criteria, visit the Author’s Information page. Please submit papers through the IEEE Author Portal and be sure to select the special issue or special section name. Manuscripts should not be published or currently submitted for publication elsewhere. Please submit only full papers intended for review, not abstracts. If requested, abstracts should be sent by email to the guest editors directly.

Questions?

Contact the guest editors at m.r.vansteen@utwente.nl, hein.meling@uis.no

Maarten van Steen (Lead guest editor), University of Twente, The Netherlands

Hein Meling, University of Stavanger, Norway