Special Session on Distributed Simulations of Distributed Systems

Distributed simulation (DS) is a valuable tool for understanding and evaluating distributed systems. The current computing trend sees businesses and individuals moving toward a more centralized infrastructure, namely the cloud. On the one hand, as the computing infrastructure at data centers is highly complex and distributed, DS becomes essential for diagnosing and gaining insights of the system. On the other hand, the scale and nature of interaction between different components in the cloud present new challenges and push DS's state of the art. Another computing trend that has potential to drive DS is internet-of-things. Such complex systems consist of a large number of autonomous, heterogeneous devices communicating with one another in non-uniform manner. DS is valuable not only for discerning system properties but also for predicting the devices' emergent behavior. Finally, users in online social networks make up large distributed systems. Insights of user interaction and the network's collective behavior --- the study of which fits well into the realm of DS --- bring significant value to both the society and the business of social network providers. This special session seeks to bring together experts and practitioners in the domain of DS to discuss new opportunities and challenges for DS. We welcome research papers on both theoretical and empirical issues.