Nick McKeown

Nick McKeown Nick McKeown is a British electrical engineer and computer scientist known for influential work in computer networking, software-defined networking, and programmable data planes. He is a professor at Stanford University and a co-founder of multiple technology companies, contributing to standards such as OpenFlow and the P4 Language while collaborating with institutions like Intel, Google, Facebook, and Cisco Systems.

Early life and education

Born in the United Kingdom, McKeown studied at the University of Sussex and completed advanced degrees at the University of Cambridge, where he was associated with King's College, Cambridge and the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge. During his doctoral studies he worked with researchers connected to AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, and peers who later joined Bell Labs Research and Microsoft Research. His formative training connected him to European research networks including EPSRC and collaborations with laboratories like Max Planck Society and CERN.

Academic career and positions

McKeown joined the faculty of Stanford University in the Department of Electrical Engineering and contributed to multiple interdisciplinary centers including the Stanford Engineering school, the Stanford Computer Science Department, and the Stanford Data Science Initiative. He previously held positions at the University of Cambridge and maintained visiting appointments at institutions such as MIT, UC Berkeley, Princeton University, and Caltech. McKeown has served on advisory boards for organizations like DARPA, the National Science Foundation, European Research Council, and has collaborated with corporate labs including IBM Research, Microsoft Research, Amazon Web Services, and Huawei.

Research contributions and innovations

McKeown's research advanced packet switching design through work on software-defined networking and the OpenFlow protocol, influencing projects at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Intel. He led innovations in programmable switches and the creation of the P4 Language, impacting standards bodies such as the IETF and consortia like the Open Networking Foundation. His publications intersect with research from groups at Bell Labs, ETH Zurich, University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, and Carnegie Mellon University, and his work on congestion control, traffic engineering, and middleboxes drew on algorithms from Vint Cerf, Van Jacobson, Sally Floyd, and researchers at Stanford Networking Group. McKeown's technical contributions include packet processing architectures related to TCAM design, multicore network processors developed with Intel Labs and collaborations with Broadcom and NVIDIA on programmable data planes.

Entrepreneurship and industry impact

McKeown co-founded startups and companies including those acquired or partnered with industry leaders such as Barefoot Networks, Nicira, Big Switch Networks, and Treehouse. His entrepreneurial activity influenced product roadmaps at Cisco Systems, Juniper Networks, Arista Networks, and Broadcom, and his teams engaged with cloud providers Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services to deploy SDN technologies. He has advised venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Kleiner Perkins and worked with incubators such as Y Combinator, Stanford StartX, and Plug and Play Tech Center to translate research into commercial platforms.

Awards and honors

McKeown's recognitions include fellowships and awards from organizations like the Royal Academy of Engineering, the IEEE, the Association for Computing Machinery, and election to bodies such as the National Academy of Engineering and the Fellowship of the Royal Society. He has received prizes linked to networking and systems research alongside honors associated with ACM SIGCOMM and IEEE INFOCOM, and has been invited to lecture at venues including TED, the Royal Institution, SIGCOMM conferences, and plenaries at IEEE symposia. He has served as a keynote speaker at events organized by IETF, the Open Networking Foundation, and academic conferences hosted by Stanford and Cambridge.

Category:British electrical engineers Category:Computer networking researchers Category:Stanford University faculty