Virtual space

The Parallel (and Distributed) Discrete Event Simulation (PADS) community - over it\´s more than 20 years of existence - has achieved remarkable results in getting the execution of simulations of discrete event systems faster, involving multiple, logically and/or physically dispersed, communicating computational resources. A solid, mature and empirically approved body of foundational concepts, models, systems, methods and algorithms are at hand and well documented in more than 50.000 pages of research papers. PADS simulation engines, model and software libraries, and operating systems have proven feasibility and applicability of these results in solving real world problems. Despite the (healthy) self-criticism of it\´s proponents ("Will the field survive?"), PADS was - and is - a success! With this talk we aim at a prospect for the challenges posed by the emerging new models of computational and communication, the evolving new paradigms of interaction and coordination, the new styles of system design, and even the availability of new technologies, for which - in my opinion - no other community qualifies better than the PADS community.