Next Generation Information Technologies and Systems

The Next Generation Information Technologies and Systems (NGITS) wo- shop series is a biannual event held in Israel since 1993. Like its predecessors, NGITS'99 brings together active members of the international research com- nity interested in information technology and knowledge based systems. Many of the base technologies in the traditional areas of database management systems, information retrieval, and resource optimization, are being deployed nowadays in novel systems and applications that ?ourish with the astonishing increase in computational power, storage capacity, communication, and - of course - the advent of the world-wide web. These new fronts, in turn, present an ever gr- ing set of challenges to the technologies, such as data availability, information integrity, and knowledge extraction, fuelling an exciting set of activities. Our workshop clearly re?ects this trend, o?ering a rich sample of the state of the art at the close of the millennium and a glimpse of what is to come in the next one. In response to the call for papers, we received 34 high quality submissions, 22 of which were carefully selected by the Program Committee for presentation at the workshop and inclusion in these proceedings. These include 17 full length papers as well as 5 short papers (that will be accompanied by demonstrations during the workshop). In addition, it is our pleasure to feature two invited talks, given by Professor J. Ullman of Stanford University and IBM Fellow C. Mohan.