Federico De Marchi
I am a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics and Saarland University in the Network and Cloud Systems group, advised by Dr. Yiting Xia.
My research interests lie in networked systems, with a strong focus on data center networks. As more computing power moves into data centers, I believe there is significant potential for improving efficiency and sustainability by pushing the current boundaries of network engineering. In particular, I am interested in designing specialized network stack solutions for alternative, cost-efficient data center architectures.
More specifically, my work so far has focused on routing and transport protocols for reconfigurable data center networks and flat network topologies.
Before starting my Ph.D., I completed my M.Sc. in Computer Science at Saarland University. During this time, I worked as a HiWi (student assistant) in the same research group, where I first developed an interest in reconfigurable data center networks. Previously, I received my B.Sc. from the University of Bologna, advised by Prof. Renzo Davoli, working on userspace network virtualization and DNS in his VirtualSquare laboratory.
News
- Aug 2026 Back from an internship at Microsoft Research Cambridge — great to work with the team there. :)
- Dec 2025 OpenOptics accepted at NSDI 2026!
- Jul 2025 Flare accepted at SIGCOMM 2025!
Selected publications
Education
- 2023 – present Ph.D. in Computer Science, Max Planck Institute for Informatics & Saarland University
- 2021 – 2023 M.Sc. in Computer Science, Saarland University
- 2018 – 2021 B.Sc. in Computer Science, University of Bologna
Experience
- 2026 – 2026 Research Intern, Microsoft Research Cambridge
- 2022 – 2023 Research Assistant, Max Planck Institute for Informatics
Full details are in my CV (PDF).