Oct. 28, 2013
Inquiring minds assembled at University of Toronto Friday, Oct. 25 for the first U of T Networking Symposium, sponsored by HP Networking and hosted by The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. More than 130 attendees from a broad range of companies joined university researchers and graduate students for a fascinating program of speakers and a panel discussion.
Co-chaired by HP’s James MacDonald and ECE’s Ashish Khisti, the lineup featured speakers at the leading edges of their respective fields:
- Sarwar Raza, Director of Cloud Networking and Software Defined Networking (SDN) in the Advanced Technology Group at HP Networking
- Kyu-Han Kim, Senior Research Scientist and Mobility Research Manager, Hewlett-Packard
- Ashish Khisti, Assistant Professor in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Canada Research Chair
- Stéphane Laroche, Distinguished Technologist, HPN Advanced Technology Group, Mobility at Hewlett-Packard
- Alberto Leon-Garcia, Professor in ECE, Canada Research Chair and Director of the Smart Applications in Virtual Infrastructure (SAVI) NSERC Strategic Network
“This event is about sharing the future of networking,” said HP’s Mark Seeman in his welcoming remarks. “We love having these opportunities to connect with our greater community,” added ECE’s Associate Chair – Research, Professor Tony Chan-Carusone.
The day’s program was future-facing: much discussion focused on anticipating and solving problems of increased demand on existing networks. “The problem we’re trying to solve is one of getting a handle on our infrastructure,” said Raza. Cloud storage, mobile and big data “are wreaking havoc on IT infrastructure.”
“The main drive for innovation today in wireless systems is growth in traffic,” said Khisti. “We need to develop our wireless networks in order to handle this growth, and if we simply try to scale the current systems they won’t be cost-effective.”
The symposium concluded with a panel discussion on the topic “Software Defined Networking: Today and into the Future” featuring Raza, Leon-Garcia and Laroche.
For more information on the agenda and speakers, visit the symposium’s website.
More information:
Marit Mitchell
Senior Communications Officer
The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
416-978-7997; marit.mitchell@utoronto.ca