Distinguished Lecture: Ramesh K. Sitaraman
A Quarter-Century of Edge Computing: How it evolved and what the future holds
Ramesh K. Sitaraman, UMass Amherst and Akamai Tech
April 27, 2026, 11:00 am
Gates-Dell Complex, 6.302
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Abstract:
Edge computing arose as a natural evolution of content delivery networks nearly 25 years ago. In this talk, we trace the progression of four foundational paradigms: edge scripting, serverless functions at the edge, general-purpose edge applications, and, most recently, edge AI. This final paradigm represents a major transformative shift that brings machine learning services closer to users and advances the long-standing vision of a truly intelligent, interactive Internet. As edge computing is poised to grow tenfold over the next decade into a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the road ahead is anything but straightforward. Realizing edge computing at unprecedented scale and complexity poses deep, unresolved scientific challenges, demanding close collaboration between academia and industry to fully unlock its potential.
Bio:
Ramesh K. Sitaraman is currently a Distinguished University Professor and Associate Dean in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His research focuses on all aspects of Internet-scale distributed systems, including algorithms, architectures, performance, energy efficiency, security, and economics. He is best known for pioneering internet-scale services that currently deliver much of the world’s web content, streaming videos, and online applications. As a principal architect at Akamai, he helped create the world’s first major content delivery network (CDN) and the first edge computing service. He retains a role as Akamai’s Chief Consulting Scientist.
Prof. Sitaraman is a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, and AAAS. He received the inaugural ACM SIGCOMM Networking Systems Award for his contributions to the Akamai CDN, the ACM IMC Test-of-Time Award for his work on video quality, and an Excellence in DASH Award for contributions to the MPEG-DASH standard. His research on adaptive bitrate (ABR) algorithms for video streaming is widely used in practice and has been recognized with the IEEE William R. Bennett Prize and the INFOCOM Test-of-Time Award. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award (DTA), the highest teaching recognition on campus. He received a B. Tech. in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, where he was named Distinguished Alumnus. He received a Ph.D. in computer science from Princeton University.
