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This special issue contains four papers selected from the 26th UK Performance Engineering Workshop (UKPEW), which was held during 8–9 July 2010 in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Warwick. UKPEW is the leading UK forum for the presentation of work relating to all aspects of performance modelling and the analysis of computer and telecommunication systems. This year's selected papers demonstrate the variety of topics on offer at UKPEW: performance issues in cloud computing, energy-aware routing in packet networks, source location privacy and multi-hop ad hoc networks for wireless networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of packet switching technology in Great Britain. It suggests that the technology can be attributed to Paul Baran of RAND Corp. who proposed it in the context of a digital communication network for military purpose. It cites the role of Leonard Kleinrock in the development of ARPA through the application of queuing theory with the aim of predicting performance of its design.

This paper provides insights from the UK’s pioneering boutique hotel chain, Hotel du Vin (HduV) to explore the dynamics of self-forming innovation networks within the service sector. In particular, it focuses on HduV’s diaspora of spin-off and follow-on enterprises, examining the nature of innovation and creativity, and the significant role of human mobility in knowledge transfer and in the dynamic reconfiguration of such networks. Through the use of participative’ research methods and ‘close dialogue’, it provides a contribution to understanding processes of innovation in an under-researched industry—utilizing the concept of ‘diasporas’ to encapsulate the temporality and spatiality of those processes. In particular, it explores the various re-uses and re-combinations of the organizational processes and value propositions that defined the innovatory nature of the original chain, showing how those re-combinations were critical to the entrepreneurial nature of the diasporic network which developed around HduV [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the notion of clusters and clustering from the perspective of complex capital projects, drawing on two detailed case studies of long-term engineering projects. It suggests that conventional notions of clusters are often predicated on a high volume model of production and a stable environment for innovation. The case studies illustrate how the locus of innovation is shifting in response to changes in the nature of demand for major capital goods and the services associated with them. It is suggested this leads to greater dispersion in networks for innovation within complex capital projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]