A universal approach to data center network design

This talk proposes an approach to the design of large-scale general-purpose data center networks based on the notions of volume and area universality introduced by Leiserson in the 1980's in the context of VLSI design. In particular, we suggest that the principle goal of the network designer should be to build a single network that is provably competitive, for any application, with any network that can be built for the same amount of money. We illustrate our approach by walking through the design of a hierarchical data center network using the various networking components available today commercially.

Bruce Maggs received the S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985, 1986, and 1989, respectively. His advisor was Charles Leiserson. After spending one year as a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT, he worked as a Research Scientist at NEC Research Institute in Princeton from 1990 to 1993. In 1994, he moved to Carnegie Mellon, where he stayed until joining Duke University in 2009 as a Professor in the Department of Computer Science. While on a two-year leave-of-absence from Carnegie Mellon, Maggs helped to launch Akamai Technologies, serving as its Vice President for Research and Development, before returning to Carnegie Mellon. He retains a part-time role at Akamai as Vice President for Research.