Walter Cerroni obtained the Ph.D. inElectrical and Computer Engineering in July 2003 from the University of Bologna, Italy. In 1999 he was a Junior Researcher with Alcatel, Dallas, Texas, USA. From May 2003 to April 2005 he was a Research Associate at the National Inter-University Consortium for Telecommunications (CNIT), Italy. Since April 2005, he is an Assistant Professor of Communication Networks at the University of Bologna, Italy. In 2008 he was a visiting Assistant Professor at the School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. His most recent research interests include: design, implementation and performance evaluation of virtual network function chaining in cloud computing platforms (e.g. OpenStack); modeling and design of inter-and intra-data center interconnection networks for cloud computing infrastructures; design of programmable, software-defined hybrid optical network architectures; performance evaluation of dynamic spectrum allocation techniques in flexible optical networks.Walter Cerroni has been involved in several research projects, at both national (e.g., FIRB GRID.IT, PRIN SFINGI) and international (e.g., IST-DAVID, FP7 e-Photon/ONe, FP7 BONE, EIT ICT Labs) levels. He has co-authored about 100 articles published in international journals, magazines and conference proceedings. He is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Optical Networks and Systems Symposium at IEEE ICC 2016, and has served as Publication Chair for ONDM 2011 and SDN4FNS 2013, technically co-sponsored by IEEE Communications Society. He also served as a Technical Program Committee member for several international conferences, including IEEE Globecom, IEEE ICC, IEEE HPSR, IEEE FIE, ONDM. He co-authored the book “Hands on networking”, published in 2009 by Cambridge University Press, and one of the very few textbooks in computer networking that give special attention to practical exercises on open-source platforms.
Carla Raffaelli, PhD, graduated at the University of Bologna in 1985, summa cum Laude. In 1990 She obtained her PhD in Electronic and Computer Engineering. Since 2004 she is Associate Professor with expertise in Telecommunication Networks. She authored many scientific papers in outstanding conferences and journals. She regularly serves as a reviewer for scientific journals and participate as a member of Technical Program Committees of most important conferences in her field of expertise. She participated, also with coordinating roles, in important National and European scientific projects. Main research topics are: Modeling of network functions and equipments, Multi-service networks, Optical networks, Data Center networks, and, recently, 5G networking. She is Director of the Second cycle degree in Telecommunications Engineering.