Dan R. K. Ports

My research explores the boundary between distributed systems and the networks that connect them. I've spent the last decade showing that co-designing systems and networks together — rather than treating them as separate layers — can unlock fundamental improvements in performance, consistency, and reliability.

This work has ranged from replication protocols that exploit network ordering to eliminate coordination overhead, to placing distributed state directly in programmable switches for microsecond-scale operations. More recently, it has moved from research to production: I'm working on redesigning the Azure load balancer using programmable hardware, and on new network architectures for AI workloads using optical circuit switching.

I take a broad view of the systems field — my work draws on distributed systems, networking, operating systems, databases, and computer architecture. Before joining MSR, I was on the faculty at the University of Washington. I did my PhD at MIT, where I was (approximately) Barbara Liskov's last student.