Princeton's Jennifer Rexford: Programmability in 5G access networks is a high stakes game

Professor Jennifer Rexford joins the podcast to discuss why network programmability is critical to the performance of 5G access networks.

At a Glance

  • Rexford's work in routing and SDN (04:13)
  • Why service providers want more network programmability (06:42)
  • The stakes are high for delivering network programmability in 5G access networks (13:57)

Princeton University's Jennifer Rexford joins the podcast to discuss the evolution of network programmability and its impact on network performance. Rexford has an extensive background in Internet routing and software-defined networking (SDN), both with service providers such as AT&T and in academia.

Rexford is provost, professor of Computer Science and Gordon Y.S. Wu professor in engineering at Princeton University. She also is the 2024 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal recipient for "contributions to Internet wide-area routing and software-defined networking." 

Rexford will receive the IEEE award at the 2024 IEEE Vision, Innovation, and Challenges Summit (IEEE VIC Summit) and Honors Ceremony on Friday, May 3, in Boston. She's also speaking at the event on a panel titled, "Evolution and Future of Networking Technologies."

Click on the caption button for a lightly edited transcript. 

Here are a few topics we cover:

  • Background on Rexford's role at Princeton University, her IEEE affiliation and previous role at AT&T (02:54)

  • Rexford's work in routing and SDN (04:13)

  • Why service providers want more network programmability (06:42)

  • Rexford's work on the routing control platform (11:48)

  • The stakes are high for delivering network programmability in 5G access networks (13:57)

  • Improving access network performance to support low latency applications (16:24)

  • Rexford's work on cybersecurity (21:57)

About the Author(s)

Kelsey Ziser

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Kelsey is a senior editor at Light Reading, co-host of the Light Reading podcast, and host of the "What's the story?" podcast.

Her interest in the telecom world started with a PR position at Connect2 Communications, which led to a communications role at the FREEDM Systems Center, a smart grid research lab at N.C. State University. There, she orchestrated their webinar program across college campuses and covered research projects such as the center's smart solid-state transformer.

Kelsey enjoys reading four (or 12) books at once, watching movies about space travel, crafting and (hoarding) houseplants.

Kelsey is based in Raleigh, N.C.

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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