Network Design in the Big-Data Age

Speaker:        Professor Xia ZHOU
                Department of Computer Science
                Dartmouth College

Title:          "Network Design in the Big-Data Age"

Date:           Monday, 16 December 2013

Time:           11:00am - 12 noon

Venue:          Room 3402 (near lifts 17 & 18), HKUST

Abstract:

Today, the design of next generation networks is dictated by the
characteristics of big-data applications that generate large volumes of
data traffic.  The sheer size and dynamic nature of these workloads drive
network design tradeoffs.  For example, cellular network providers are
scrambling for additional spectrum to support heavy network usage on
mobile devices, and batched data processing jobs are straining network
capacity in data center networks.  In both cases, network architects must
find novel ways to support high traffic demands that vary significantly
with time, often without predictable patterns.

In this talk, I will present key results from our efforts to tackle the
issue of traffic dynamics in both next generation wireless networks and
data centers.  First, I will describe my work on addressing dynamic
traffic demands in wireless networks using dynamic auctions for radio
spectrum.  Highly dynamic spectrum usage calls for on-demand auctions for
fine-grain spectrum leases.  I will show that existing auction designs
fail due to complex interference constraints in the wireless environment.
Our solution is an eBay-like spectrum marketplace that auctions spectrum
efficiently while achieving economic-robustness.  Second, I will describe
challenges in dealing with dynamic traffic hotspots in data center
networks, where our solution is to use 3-D flexible wireless interconnects
to augment wired networks.  I will identify key challenges of using
wireless in data centers: link blockage and radio interference, and then
present 3D beamforming as a new wireless primitive to address them.
Finally, I will discuss my plans for both short-term and long-term future
work.

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Biography:

Xia Zhou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science
at Dartmouth College. She received her PhD at UC Santa Barbara in 2013.
Her research interests are in wireless networking systems and
measurements, dynamic spectrum access, and data centers. Her work on
spectrum distributions won Best Practical Paper Award at SIGMETRICS 2013,
and Best Paper Award Finalist at MobiCom 2008. Her work on wireless data
centers has been reported by a wide range of media including NY Times and
MIT Tech Review (twice). She received the Outstanding Publication Award in
Computer Science at UCSB in 2009 and 2012. She was also a finalist for the
US Anita Borg Scholarship in 2009, and won the Chancellor's Fellowship at
UCSB in 2007.