REX-IO focuses on extreme-scale I/O and storage challenges driven by emerging hybrid HPC workloads, from traditional simulation to AI/ML, data analytics, and complex workflows, that combine scale-up and scale-out components. As exascale systems and multi-tier storage hierarchies become more common, the gap between compute and storage performance and the growing complexity of parallel file/storage systems demand new approaches. We invite submissions on I/O characterization, data/storage management challenges, and novel optimization and management techniques (including ML/AI-enabled methods) that improve performance and usability. Starting from its origins at IEEE Cluster 2021, REX-IO will be held at ACM HPDC 2026, continuing its tradition and forum for researchers and practitioners across I/O, storage, facilities, and applications.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Understanding I/O inefficiencies in emerging workloads such as complex multi-step workflows, in-situ analysis, AI, and data analytics methods 
• New I/O optimization techniques, including how ML and AI algorithms might be adapted for intelligent load balancing and I/O pattern prediction of complex application workloads
• Performance benchmarking and modeling, and I/O behavior studies of emerging workloads
• New possibilities for the I/O optimization of emerging application workloads and their I/O subsystems
• Efficient monitoring tools for metadata and storage hardware statistics at runtime, dynamic storage resource management, and I/O load balancing
• Parallel file systems, metadata management, and complex data management
• Understanding and efficiently utilizing complex storage hierarchies beyond the traditional two-tiered file system and archive model 
• User-friendly tools and techniques for managing data movement among compute and storage nodes
• Use of staging areas, such as burst buffers or other private or shared acceleration tiers for managing intermediate data between computation tasks
• Application of emerging big data frameworks towards scientific computing and analysis
• Alternative data storage models, including object and key-value stores, and scalable software architectures for data storage and archive
• Position papers on related topics

Submission Guidelines

All submitted papers should be formatted using the ACM Proceedings Style with sigconf format (please be sure to use the current version). The necessary document can be found here: https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template 

Page limit: 5 to 8 pages (excluding references)

All papers must be original and should not have appeared in or be simultaneously under consideration for a different workshop, conference or journal. Indicate all authors and affiliations. 

All papers will be peer-reviewed using a single-blind peer-review process by at least three members of the program committee. 

Submissions must be in English and PDF format. 

Papers must be submitted via the REX-IO 2026 submission site: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rexio26

Important Dates

Please note: All Dates are Anywhere on Earth

• Submission deadline: March 31, 2026 

• Notification to authors: April 30, 2026

• Camera-ready paper due: May 16, 2026

• Workshop date: July 13, 2026

Committees

Organizing Committee

• Arnab K. Paul (BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus, India)

• Sarah M. Neuwirth (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany)

• Jay Lofstead (Sandia National Laboratories, USA)

Program committee

• TBA

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to <rexio26 AT easychair DOT org>