Support for International Workshop on Applied Reconfigurable Computing in 2008

With the suggestion that technology improvements may come to a halt over the next decade, there is increased emphasis in improving the performance return of existing computing architectures. One possible such approach is to develop reconfigurable computing systems where the hardware is reconfigured to better match performance requirement of the application. this is known as reconfigurable computing and in 2008, the UK will play host to the major international conference in this area , namely the International Workshop on Applied Reconfigurable Computing (ARC2008). The conference is highly relevant to the UK given the wide base of UK academic research in Imperial College London, Queen's University Belfast, Edinburgh University, University of York and the University of Manchester and the diverse range of companies involved in processor design generally, ARM, Picochip, Panansonic (formerly Elixent), Icera semiconductor and ARC. The fact that there is a strong base in this area in the UK, suggest this conference is timely.This year, the conference is being hosted at Imperial College London by Christos Bouganis acting as the general chair and the program co-chair based at Queen's University Belfast, namely Roger Woods. The conference is targeted specifically at researchers in the reconfigurable hardware domain and brings together researchers from around the world. Support is requested for travel for the plenary speakers, program chair and for some secretarial support.