Inder Monga Named Director of ESnet, Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Networking Division

Indermohan “Inder” Singh Monga, an internationally recognized expert in advanced networking research, is the new executive director of the Department of Energy’s Energy Sciences Network, better known as ESnet. He will also assume the role of director of the Scientific Networking Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which manages ESnet.

Monga, who joined ESnet in September 2009, is only the fifth person to lead ESnet since it was created 30 years ago. When Greg Bell announced he was stepping down as ESnet director in February 2016, Monga was named interim director. Since joining the organization, Monga has served as a software engineer, chief technology officer, group lead of the Tools Team and deputy of technology for the Scientific Networking Division. He provides research and technology direction, actively leads research projects and championed building a focused software engineering effort within ESnet. He is also a frequent invited/keynote speaker at industry and research and education (R&E) networking conferences.

“ESnet was very fortunate to have Inder join the organization in 2009 and I’m very pleased that he will now lead ESnet into the next generation of scientific networking,” said Kathy Yelick, Associate Lab Director for Computing Sciences at Berkeley Lab. “As science has become increasingly science-driven, networking plays a critical role in giving researchers access to critical data, as well as supporting global collaborations.”

ESnet operates a 100 gigabits-per-second backbone network linking more than 40 DOE research sites, including the entire national laboratory system, its supercomputing facilities and its major scientific instruments. ESnet also connects to 140 research and commercial networks, permitting DOE-funded scientists to productively collaborate with partners around the world. In December 2014, ESnet deployed three 100 Gbps trans-Atlantic connections linking the United States to research institutions in Europe.

Monga’s research interests include network virtualization, software-defined networking and network architectures and he holds 23 granted patents. Monga is well-known in the evolving field of software-defined networking (SDN), an approach that allows network administrators to manage network services by decoupling various levels of network functionality, enabling more flexibility in moving data and meeting application requirements.

Over the last few years, Monga has conceived many leading demonstrations in collaboration with industry partners and academia. In April 2013, the Open Networking Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting SDN, appointed Monga as one of 12 Research Associates and he currently serves as the chair of the group. In December 2013, Monga organized a two-day workshop in Washington, D.C., to plan a path forward to develop, deploy and operate a prototype SDN network. The workshop was co-sponsored by DOE, Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) and the National Science Foundation.

His work experience in the private sector has included software development, research and network engineering for Wellfleet Communications and Nortel, where he focused on application and network convergence. Monga earned his undergraduate degree in electrical/electronics engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India, before coming to the U.S. to pursue his graduate studies in Boston University’s Electrical and Electronics Communication Systems Department.

Away from ESnet and Berkeley Lab, Monga likes the outdoors and is working to become an Assistant Scoutmaster with his son’s Boy Scout troop.