Special track on Autonomic Computing: editorial message
With the widespread use of distributed computing in the enterprise, there have been significant advances in development paradigms for distributed computing applications. Server side component models have considerably simplified development and the complexity has instead shifted to the operational side of these applications. The increase in operational complexity has reached a point where it is no longer feasible for humans to manage the applications required to run an enterprise. This coupled with the lack of skills and skyrocketing costs associated with application management make it imperative to develop techniques to allow applications to manage themselves. The initial steps to provide self-managing applications are now being taken a paradigm known as "autonomic computing" is in its infancy of evolution. It has also been identified as one of the "grand challenges" of computer applications for the next decade. In addition, the exponential growth of handheld devices (e.g. PDAs, laptops, smart phones etc.) pose additional challenges since these devices themselves suffer from a number of limitations such as inadequate processing capability, restricted battery life, limited memory space, frequent line disconnection, and confined host bandwidth. Lack of fixed infrastructure support and the aforementioned limitations augment the complexity of the problems in autonomic computing.