2006 USENIX Annual Technical Conference Features Networking on a Planetary Scale and Network Security Breakthroughs

BOSTON, May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- From the animated world of Pixar Animation Studios to the around-the-world network of PlanetLab, the 2006 USENIX Annual Technical Conference, May 30 - June 3 in Boston, presents cutting-edge technologies in a wide variety of environments. Featuring five days of training -- 30-full- and half-day tutorials -- USENIX '06 provides immediately useful information on the latest techniques, effective tools, and best strategies on topics including Ajax, administering Linux, next-generation storage networking and VoIP. Security, a conference mainstay, is covered in depth in sessions such as "Measuring Security" and "Defense Against the Dark Arts: Repelling the Wily Hacker."

The USENIX '06 three-day conference program, which runs concurrently with tutorial sessions, kicks off with the keynote address, "PlanetLab: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design in Planetary-Scale Infrastructure," by Larry Peterson, Princeton University and PlanetLab Consortium. Peterson discusses the design principles of PlanetLab, a global platform for evaluating and deploying network services which includes over 600 nodes, spanning nearly 300 sites and 30 countries, and hosts over 400 experimental services. Greg Brandeau, Vice President of Technology, Pixar Animation Studios, presents a plenary session on "Why Mr. Incredible and Buzz Lightyear Need Better Tools: Pixar and Software Development." Brandeau explores how movies are made at Pixar and how its movie-making process drives its software development requirements.

A full slate of diverse and thought-provoking topics is presented in the technical sessions. "Deploying a Sensor Network on an Active Volcano" details the many challenges encountered over a three-week span on Reventador, an active volcano in Ecuador. "Success, Failure, and Alternative Solutions for Network Security" explores the shortcomings of the Internet security industry and presents better options for securing network and systems communications. A panel on "Open Source Software Business Models" takes an up-close look at businesses that use free and open source software. The closing session, on "Real Operating Systems for Real-time Motion Control," discusses and demos motion-control systems and how to implement them.

The new Systems Practice & Experience Track highlights refereed papers featuring the latest research on topics including virtualization, wide area distributed systems, network and operating system support, and storage. Press Badges and Registration For complimentary press badges, contact Wendy Grubow at 831-626-7503 or wendy@usenix.org. 2006 USENIX Annual Technical Conference Boston Marriott Copley Place http://www.usenix.org/usenix06/

About the USENIX Association

USENIX is the Advanced Computing Systems Association. For 30 years, it has been the leading community for engineers, system administrators, scientists, and technicians working on the cutting edge of the computing world. USENIX conferences are the essential meeting grounds for the presentation and discussion of technical advances in all aspects of computing systems. For more information about the USENIX Association, see http://www.usenix.org/.