PRDC 2012 is the eighteenth in this series of symposia started in 1989 that are devoted to dependable and fault-tolerant computing. PRDC is now recognized as the main regular event of the Pacific area that covers the many dimensions of dependability and fault tolerance, encompassing fundamental theoretical approaches, practical experimental projects, and commercial components and systems. As applications of computing systems have permeated into all aspects of daily life, the dependability of computing system has become increasingly critical. This symposium provides a forum for countries around the Pacific Rim and other areas of the world to exchange ideas for improving the dependability of computing systems.

Topics of interest for submissions include (but are not limited to):
Software and hardware reliability, testing, verification, and validation
Dependability measurement, modeling, and evaluation
Security quantification
Self-healing, self-protecting, and fault-tolerant systems
Software aging and rejuvenation
Safety-critical systems and software
Architecture and system design for dependability
Fault-tolerant algorithms and protocols
Tools for design and evaluation of dependable systems
Reliability in Internet and web systems and applications
Internet Information security
Dependability issues in computer networks and communications
Dependability issues in distributed and parallel systems
Dependability issues in real-time systems, database, and transaction processing systems
Dependability issues in autonomic computing
Dependability issues in embedded systems
Paper Submissions

All papers must conform to the IEEE Computer Society Formatting Guidelines. Submissions are invited in the following categories: Regular Papers and Practical Experience Reports. Regular Papers should describe original research (not submitted or published elsewhere) and be not more than 10 pages. Practical Experience Reports, whose length is limited to 6 pages, should describe an experience or a case study, such as the design and deployment of a system or actual failure and recovery field data. All submissions must be made electronically (in PDF format) through the web-based submission system (EasyChair). Please visit our web site for full submission instructions and updated information on the symposium. Papers will be reviewed internationally and selected based on their originality, significance, relevance, and clarity of presentation. All accepted papers will be published by IEEE Computer Society Press. Outstanding papers will be invited to the special issue in IEICE Transactions on Information and Systems, after the symposium.