Thesis: Orchestrating Edge Computing Services with Efficient Data Planes
Supervisor: Prof. Fulvio Risso
During my Ph.D., sponsored by TIM S.p.A., I focused on enabling high-performance and low-overhead communication between application modules and the end users, as well as providing effective mechanisms to share resources in data centers (with a focus on edge ones). To reach these goals I dug into the foundations of the Linux kernel, leveraged high-performance packet processing frameworks, such as XDP (powered by eBPF) and DPDK, and studied the possible evolutions of virtualization mechanisms (VMs and containers), such as Unikernels. During the programme I carried out projects in collaboration with TIM S.p.A, Rakuten Mobile, and Huawei Technologies.

Final degree mark: 110/110 cum laude
Thesis: Prototyping an eBPF-based 5G Mobile Gateway
Supervisor: Prof. Fulvio Risso

Final degree mark: 110/110 cum laude

I continue working on the topics addressed during my Ph.D. studies, including high-performance networking and efficient resource virtualization. I assist M.S. students with their thesis and contribute to national and European projects including project ELASTIC (https://elastic-project.eu/), where I’m leading a task on the creation of a lightweight service mesh interconnecting traditional VMs/containers and WebAssebly-based functions.

Teaching assistant for the B.S. course Computer Networks and M.S. Software Networking.

I worked under the supervision of Prof. K. K. Ramakrishnan on the design and development of a novel virtualization mechanism combining low resource footprint, strong isolation and security, high-performance data plane, and low overhead service management. During this period I had the opportunity to dig into the details and leverage hardware-assisted virtualization mechanisms (e.g., Intel VMX) and explore novel operating system paradigms such as Unikernels.