Welcome to SMCTools 2008

The 3rd International Workshop on Tools for solving
Structured Markov Chains

(Athens, Greece / October 20, 2008)

The deadline is extended until May 30, 2008!

The Workshop is co-located with ValueTools 2008 and in Technical Cooperation with ACM.

Scope

Performance evaluation methodologies based on structured Markov chains have taken a more prominent role over the last two decades. During this time, due to the strong exploitation of the involved structures, the techniques used to assess the performance measures of interest have advanced significantly in terms of their efficiency, while becoming more complex at the same time. This increased complexity often acts as an opposing force to a more wide spread use of these advanced methodologies.

Making these novel techniques more accessible via a set of software tools is therefore essential to further promote their integration in the system design.

This workshop solicits papers on both theoretical development and software tools for solving structured Markov chains (MCs); topics include (but are not restricted to):

• Infinite (countable/continuous) and finite (large) MCs
• Continuous- and discrete-time MCs
• Markov decision processes
• Bounding and approximation methods for large MCs
• Skip-free (QBD, M/G/1, GI/M/1 type) and non-skip-free MCs
• Level dependent and independent MCs
• Tree-structured and tree-like MCs
• Fluid flow queues
• MCs with a regenerative structure
• MCs with tensor structure
• Nearly completely decomposable MCs
• Queuing systems with an underlying structured MC

Applications of large MCs for:

• Performance of computer and communication systems
• Reliability and security analysis
• Information retrieval
• Analysis of biological systems

Important dates