We would like to cordially invite you to attend the 38th annual IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2003). ICC is the one of the flagship conferences of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc), and it has become increasingly competitive throughout the years.

In just the last five years, the number of paper submissions has doubled. This year we received a total of 1879 submissions - the highest number of submissions in the history of ICC! Of the submissions, we were able to accept only 704 papers - an acceptance rate of approximately 37.5%. While the large number of submissions is a tribute to the established reputation of the conference, it has also enabled us to put together an exciting and inspiring technical program.

We employed an extremely thorough review process to ensure an excellent technical program. Approximately 300 Technical Program Committee members and over 1000 reviewers were involved in the refereeing process. We believe that, as conference participants you will be witness to the highest quality of the accepted papers.

The ICC 2003 technical program will consist of 176 technical sessions, with the general conference tracks accounting for 64 sessions, and the eight symposia accounting for the remaining 112 sessions. The session topics range the full spectrum of network protocol layers, all the way from the physical and the data link layers, up to the transport and application layers. The topics themselves are timely, and the papers to be presented excellent. The papers reflect research activities at the forefront of the communications and networking fields. The ICC 2003 conference is very diverse. The accepted papers are from researchers all around the world.

In addition to the general conference and the symposia, the ICC 2003 technical program will also consist of nine high quality tutorials by experts in the fields of communication and networking, and fifteen application panel sessions in which technology leaders from both industry and academia participate to discuss some of the hot topics in the field. Three plenary sessions feature: Leonard Kleinrock, a legend in the networking field; Ronald Duncan, President and CEO of GCI, a long-distance, local, internet, and cable service provider and, finally, the well-known Robert Lucky, who will moderate a panel on future prospects for the telecommunications world.

We truly believe that you will enjoy the program and will always remember this conference. We look forward to seeing you in Anchorage, Alaska.

Sincerely,