Abstract
The Internet and its predecessor Cyclades emerged from a performance analysis that led to the invention of packet switching. But, in its infancy, the Internet forgot about performance and as a result, in the 80s, was inherently unhealthy and could not resist congestion problems. Performance then became a major issue and remains so until today. The performance analysis of communication networks is based on several theories. Network calculus uses min-plus algebra and forms the basis for industrial time-sensitive networks. Palm calculus and mean field modelling are used to understand issues that emerge in large scale and in mobile networks. In the neighbouring field of smart electrical grids, the calculus of power flows is actioned in real-time grid control.  
 
About the speaker
Jean-Yves Le Boudec is a Fellow of the IEEE. He graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure de Saint- Cloud, Paris, where he obtained the Agrégation in Mathematics in 1980 and received his doctorate in 1984 from the University of Rennes, France. From 1984 to 1987 he was with INSA/IRISA, Rennes. In 1987 he joined Bell Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada, as a member of the scientific staff in the Network and Product Traffic Design Department. In 1988, he joined the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory where he was manager of the Customer Premises Network Department. In 1994 he became a professor at EPFL. His interests are in the performance and architecture of communication systems and smart grids. He co-authored a book on network calculus, which serves as a foundation for deterministic networking, an introductory textbook on Information Sciences, and is the author of the book “Performance Evaluation”. He received the IEEE Millenium Medal, the Infocom Best Paper Award, the ACM Sigmetrics Best Paper Award, the ACM Conext Best Paper Award, the IEEE Communication Society William R. Bennett Prize and the EPFL I&C Best Teacher Award.