Book excerpt: Modern civilization relies on a functioning information infrastructure. As a result, dependability has become a central issue in all disciplines of systems engineering and software architecture.Theories, methods and tools that help to master the problems encountered in the design process and the management of operations are therefore of utmost importance for the future of information and communication technology. The present volume documents the results of a research program on Dependable Information and Communication Systems (DICS). The members of the project met in two workshops organized by the Hasler Foundation. This state-of-the-art survey contains 3 overview articles identifying major issues of dependability and presenting the latest solutions, as well as 10 carefully selected and revised papers depicting the research results originating from those workshops. The first workshop took place in Münchenwiler, Switzerland, in March 2004, and the second workshop, which marked the conclusion of the projects, in Löwenberg, Switzerland, in October 2005. The papers are organized in topical sections on surveys, dependable software, dependable computing, and dependable networks.