Mobility Stories: Antonio Marsico, FBK CREATE-NET

Antonio Marsico, FBK CREATE-NET researcher, has spent his Mobility Program stay at the University of Cambridge working on a project of intelligent data center load balancing systems together with some of the best experts in the field.
An important opportunity to deepen his research interests, to approach new topics and to expand his network of contacts and professional relations.
An experience that also led to a new collaboration between Fondazione Bruno Kessler and the University of Cambridge.

You participated in the Foundation’s Mobility call for applications. Tell us more
I stayed in Cambridge, from April to August. At FBK, I deal with Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and how this technology can help improve the operation of internet networks. In Cambridge, I worked on intelligent data center load balancing systems. In particular, our research focused on trying to understand the major issues of data center load balancing systems. Based on the findings of this research, we are trying to propose intelligent solutions that will solve those issues.

How did you pick your destination?
I chose to spend my Mobility stay at the University of Cambridge and in particular at the Computer Laboratory because I knew that, within that working group, I would meet and work with really experienced people in the field of networking and SDN technologies and dataplan systems programmable. It was an opportunity to learn about other innovative topics that we do not deal with directly in the Foundation and at the same time expand my network and come in contact with the leading experts in this field.

But also to start a collaboration.
Exactly. Fondazione Bruno Kessler and the University of Cambridge are working together on data center network load balancing.

Other considerations?
The choice to go on Mobility obviously forces you to make some considerations, for example as far as family is concerned. In my case, not being too distant, I managed to balance work and family life thanks to some organizing and planning. I was a little worried but in the end it turned out to be very manageable. Obviously, every situation is different but my personal advice to colleagues is not to dismiss the possibility of experiencing a Mobility period just because they are afraid of the difficulties they think they may have, for example, in managing family life.