The International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (or IPDPS) is an annual conference for engineers and scientists to present recent findings in the fields of parallel processing and distributed computing. In addition to technical sessions of submitted paper presentations, the meeting offers workshops, tutorials, and commercial presentations & exhibits. IPDPS is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society's Technical Committee on Parallel Processing.
IPDPS is a week-long symposium that typically includes three days of a main track, two days of about 20 workshops bookending the main track, one or more tutorials, a panel, several keynote talks, and a banquet. The main track consists of high-quality, peer-reviewed papers representing original unpublished research in all areas of parallel and distributed processing, including the development of experimental or commercial systems. IPDPS topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
The conference began in 1987 as the Orange County Parallel Processing Conference, before being renamed as the International Parallel Processing Symposium (IPPS). In 1998, the Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Systems (SPDP) merged with IPPS; and in 2000, the conference took the now familiar name: International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS). Five of the original volunteer organizers have served the conference for over two decades: Viktor Prasanna, George Westrom, Sally Jelinek Westrom, Susamma Barua, and Bill Pitts.
In 1989, the conference established the Charles Babbage Award to be given each year to a conference participant in recognition of exceptional contributions to the field. In almost all cases, the award is given to one of the invited keynote speakers at the conference. The selection is made by the steering committee chairs, upon recommendation from the Program Chair and General Chair who have been responsible for the technical program of the conference, including inviting the speakers. It is presented immediately following the selected speaker's presentation at the conference, and he or she is given a plaque that specifies the nature of their special contribution to the field that is being recognized by IPDPS.
Past recipients: