The 10 years of SAMOS

It is with great pleasure that we introduce the 10th anniversary edition of the International Conference on Embedded Computer Systems: Architectures, MOdeling, and Simulation (SAMOS). Attracting the worlds best experts, the SAMOS conference has emerged as a premier and well-established embedded systems conference. Originally established in 2001 by Prof. Stamatis Vassiliadis, Prof. Ed Deprettere, and Dr. Andy Pimentel as a Dutch Research Seminar located in the tiny town of Agios Konstantinos on the small Greek island of Samos in the Aegean Sea, it provided a venue conducive to discussions and uniquely encouraged positional and presentations of in-progress research. In the following years, the event was expanded as a by-invitation only SAMOS Workshop with a full peer review process. In 2004, the SAMOS Workshop Proceedings were published in Springer LNCS series.

During the Workshop, held annually in July, the researchers are placed in an environment where collaboration on new ideas is fostered over competition. Presentations are made in the early morning with most discussions being held over \afternoon tea" in remote venues such as pristine beaches or small mountain villages. A unique aspect of the Workshop is that the principal professors and industry research leaders personally attend the conference. This brings together the visionaries in one place to guide and direct research areas in embedded systems worldwide. Many successful collaborations and friendships have also been formed as the result of these meetings.

By 2005 the reputation of the Workshop had grown and the Workshop was opened for all interested authors to submit papers with a peer reviewed paper selection. Positional papers and \in-progress" works were still very much encouraged but now scientic results from the earliest Workshop meetings were becoming available and SAMOS was the perfect place to publish them.

In 2006, the event was split into a formal International Conference and an International Workshop. This recognized that signicant research results were generated alongside innovative positional and in-progress research on challenging open issues. While these results were still presented early in the morning, the unique character of the event was \preserved" with afternoon discussions. The SAMOS Conference had technical co-sponsorship by the IEEE and the Proceedings were published in IEEExplore. The Workshop Proceedings were published in the Springer LNCS Series.

It was with great sadness that in 2007 the event bid farewell to its mentor. Much like Pythagoras, the famous 6th century BCE philosopher from Samos, Stamatis has an almost mystical persona. As with Pythagoras, we are not sure if Stamatis had a golden thigh and could write on the moon but Stamatis was, is, and will always be the inspiration behind the conference.

In this 10th year of the event, the conference has grown in such stature that acceptance rates were approaching 25%. As it was never the desire to be so selective, the events were combined into a single conference but still providing a venue for open discussion and collaboration. The presentations are still held early in the morning and afternoon/evening activities still encourage collaboration. This unique aspect of the conference will be vigilantly protected.

John Glossner