Keynote

Abstract

The most compelling ideas in systems are abstractions such as virtual memory, sockets, or packet scheduling. Algorithmics is the servant of abstraction, allowing system performance to approach that of the underlying hardware, sometimes by using efficient algorithms but often by simply leveraging other aspects of the system. I will survey the trajectory of network algorithmics starting with a focus on speed and scale in the 1990s to measurement and security in the 2000s. While doing so, I will reflect on my experiences in choosing problems and conducting research. I will conclude by describing my passion for the emerging field of network verification and its confluence with programming language research. George Varghese worked at DEC designing DECNET protocols before obtaining his Ph.D. in 1992 from MIT. He worked from 1993-1999 at Washington University and from 1999 to 2012 at UCSD, both as professor of computer science. He joined Microsoft Research as a Principal Researcher in 2012. He won the ONR Young Investigator Award in 1996, and was elected to be a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in 2002. He helped design the 40 Gbps forwarding engine for Procket Networks, subsequently acquired by Cisco Systems. His book "Network Algorithmics" was published in December 2004 by Morgan-Kaufman. He co-founded NetSift Inc. in May 2004. NetSift was acquired by Cisco in 2005. He was the 2014 winner of the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award