> It was some time last year that the organization that ran DATE was
> acquired by another company that decided it wasn't going to run DATE
> any more.  The problem was there were still contracts in place for
> both Munich, Germany and Nice, France through this year -- so a group
> of employees left to try to do DATE on their own and get it to come
> back.  Apparently they have not been successful.  ... for all intents
> and purposes, this was to be the last year of DATE, as I understand
> from last year's reports.
>
>     - Lou Covey
>       VitalCom PR                                Redwood City, CA


From: Luca Benini <luca.benini=user domain=unibo.it>

Hi, John,

I was DATE'09 General Chair.  To make a long story short:

  1.) There will MOST DEFINITELY will be a DATE'10 in Dresden, Germany
      from 8-12 March 2010.

  2.) In the past, the conference was managed by EDA LTD which was
      liquidated in spring 2008, when the owners decided to retire
      from business.

  3.) DATE is now managed by a company called "European Conferences UK";
      they also managed, to my full satisfaction, DATE'09.  EC will
      also be at DAC, our USA sister conference, to take reservations
      and give information to whoever may be interested.

The general chair job is a 1-year deal.  The person in charge for 2010
is Prof. Giovanni De Micheli, EPFL.  Preparation is well under way, as
expected for a complex event like DATE.

DATE survives economic downturns because it is based on the effort of
hundreds of volunteers.  We're not going away.

I hope that this puts all rumors to rest.

    - Luca Benini
      DATE'09 General Chair                      Bologna, Italy