Note that the program for the FFG2003 is finished, we can't accept any new papers. But if you are interested in doing a poster please contact the program committee.

Frühjahrsfachgespräch 2003 - Call for Papers

26th - 28th March 2003, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

The "Frühjahrsfachgespräch" (FFG) is the annual event of the German Unix User Group (GUUG) e.V. for persons interested in Unix and system administration. It is also the annual get-together event for GUUG members. Many of our members only ever meet at that event.

The audience consists of system administrators, network and database administrators and professional computer users in general, especially those using Unix/Linux systems.

The conference focuses on technical topics, both from a commercial and open-source background. Additionally, legal, ethical, social and economic aspects of computer technology are often addressed.

The "Frühjahrsfachgespräch" begins with a tutorial day on Wednesday. On that day, full-day and half-day tutorials are offered, covering current topics in greater detail. On Thursday and Friday talks and workshops are planned in two parallel tracks. The social event is planned for Thursday night. A vendor exhibition will also take place on Thursday and Friday.

For the first time, the 2003 conference will feature poster sessions: projects, programs or ideas can be presented on a poster which will be available in a central area. Everybody is invited to have a look at the posters. During the poster sessions, the authors will be available for discussion.

Would you, as a professional administrator or user, like to present your projects and share your insights? GUUG offers a first-class audience that is unique in the German-speaking region.

For tutorials, talks, posters and workshops, we are looking for authors who

• talk about current developments,
• address new questions,
• offer an overview of an interesting topic or
• share aspects of their everyday practical work.

Topics we are interested in include, but are not limited to:

• Networking: IPv6, WLAN, Bluetooth
• Security: Firewalls, IDS, IPsec, VPN
• New Hardware Components
• High Availability, Clustering, Load Balancing, Performance Tuning
• NAS, SAN, Backup
• System Monitoring
• Directory Services, LDAP
• System Management
• Computer Aided X: CAD/CAM, CAE
• Content Management, Groupware
• Spam Protection
• XML, XSLT, Web Services
• Databases, Data Mining, Data Visualization
• System Consolidation, System Migration
• Industry-specific challenges for system administrators (e.g. financial and health care)

A talk typically takes about 45 minutes (including time for questions and answers and discussion). Tutorials are either half a day or a whole day long. Workshops are flexible (contact us). The official languages for all presentations are German and English (speakers may use either).

Submission of papers

Submission of abstracts for talks, tutorials, posters or workshops is possible on the web at http://www.guug.de/veranstaltungen/ffg2003/. For talks, posters or tutorials, an abstract of the planned paper (approx. 250-500 words) and some biographical information about the author or authors should be submitted.

The abstract will be reviewed by the program committee, and a selection is made. All authors will be notified whether their paper has been selected. All selected speakers are required to submit a paper (8-20 A4 pages) which will be published in the conference proceedings and on the web.

For tutorials, detailed written materials are typically required; a copy will be made available to the participants of the tutorial only. Authors taking part in the poster session are offered an appropriate presentation space and need to provide at least one poster in A1 size.

Speakers, tutorial speakers and participants in the poster sessions are invited to the FFG by the GUUG. This includes entrance fee for the social event. For groups of authors, typically one speaker is invited and the others may attend at the members' fee. Speakers and tutorial speakers may attend tutorials free of charge. GUUG has made special arrangements with a hotel nearby. The rooms for speakers and tutorial speakers are paid for by GUUG.

If a speaker has no can't afford to get to Bochum, transportation expenses may be covered as well. Tutorial speakers additionally receive an appropriate fee.

Important dates

Program committee

• Wolfgang Sachs (chairman), sage@guug
• Gabriel Krabbe, rtfs IT consulting
• Hans-Joachim von der Lieth
• Dr. Matthias Mann, ONSYS GmbH
• Andre von Raison, iX
• Rene Schönfeldt, dpunkt Verlag
• Ralf Spenneberg

For questions, please contact the program committee at ffg@guug.de. Submissions of abstracts and papers will be accepted only via the web page.

Additional information about conference and registration will be available from January 2003 at http://www.guug.de/veranstaltungen/ffg2003/index.html. Companies interested in sponsoring the event or taking part in the exhibition are encouraged to contact Jochen Topf (jochen.topf@guug.de) for further information.

• German version
• ffg2003-cfp-en.asc (Text version)
• ffg2003-cfp-en.ps (Postscript version)
• ffg2003-cfp-en.sxw (OpenOffice.org Document)