Conference Theme: CMMI driven Open-Source Software Developement
 
Conference Flyer: http://uet.edu.pk/icost2006/icost2006-flier.pdf

Introduction:
Open-Source Software Engineering (OSSE) has emerged as a cross-disciplinary paradigm for distributed enterprise computing. OSS, in many cases, has kept the software market away from monopolies. It is helping organizations to keep a control on the cost of development and deployment. OSSE has also changed the way software applications are architected, deployed, and consumed.

The Conference:
Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, (in collaboration with IEEE, USA) is organizing a two-day workshop to invite researchers and practitioners from across the world to share their ideas and experiences related to the state-of-the-art and the future of open-source software. OSSTT-2006 thus aims at consolidating as an international forum where a diverse audience of OSS researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and public administration will come together to present research papers and tutorials addressing the state-of-the-art open-source research and development in the critical areas such as E-Business, E-Government, Telecommunication, Enterprise Security, Healthcare, Higher Education and Research, Enterprise Resource Planning, and Educational Institution Management and Administration. OSSTT-2006 will create a scientific venue where participants can share ideas for tackling the research and development challenges related to open-source tools and open-source development environments supporting and facilitating CMMI-styled life-cycle of complex information systems for the critical application domains mentioned above. Open-source system development poses a number of research challenges related to open-source work practices, development processes, applications, and tools. However, ICOST-2006 will focus on achieving three main goals.

Aims and Objectives of ICOST-2006

1. Developing open-source stand-alone software tools, toolsets, and complete integrated development environments (IDEs) that support and facilitate CMMI life-cycle methodologies (or process areas) for developing critical, complex, and robust enterprise information systems. The CMMI process areas span requirements to analysis, design, development, and deployment. The enterprise systems in this case are regular information systems, i.e, they may not themselves be open-source systems.
   
2. Developing open-source tools, toolsets, and IDEs that facilitate development of critical, complex, and robust open-source systems in a CMMI development style as much as and where possible. That is, what process areas of CMMI would apply, or would need to be adapted and how, to create an open-source system in a style conforming level-1 maturity, level-2 maturity, and so on. The end systems in this case may either themselves be open-source enterprise systems, or they may be the toolsets and IDEs that can in turn be used to develop such systems.
   
3. Focusing not just on software tools that work in a single IDE, or tools that only help fix a single project. Rather, the focus will be basic developer tools, with categories like modeling, editors, build automation, continuous integration, logging, debugging, tracing, performance, code generators, document generators, installers, search, rule engines, database, and presentation.

Registration: http://uet.edu.pk/icost2006/registration.htm

Call for Papers: http://uet.edu.pk/icost2006/guideline.html

Important Dates for ICOST-2006:

• Last date for submission of papers November 12, 2006
• Acceptance/Rejection notification November 30, 2006
• Camera ready papers December 07, 2006

Conference Sponsors:

• Higher Education Commission Pakistan
• Punjab Information Technology Board

In co-operation with:

• IEEE Lahore Section

Travel Information: http://uet.edu.pk/icost2006/travel_service.htm