Microsoft Research Asia: Advancing Systems and Networking for AI and Cloud

Systems and Networking Research Group (Asia)

This document outlines the research areas, achievements, and opportunities within the Systems and Networking Research Group at Microsoft Research Asia. The group focuses on fundamental systems research, aiming to empower advanced intelligent algorithms with reliable, secure, and efficient computing capacity for processing vast amounts of data, particularly in the era of big data and artificial intelligence.

Research Areas:

The group's expertise spans several key domains:

• Intelligence:

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Audio & Acoustics
  • Computer Vision
  • Graphics & Multimedia
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Human Language Technologies
  • Information Retrieval

• Systems:

  • Data Platform and Analytics
  • Hardware and Devices
  • Programming Languages and Software Engineering
  • Quantum Computing
  • Security, Privacy, and Cryptography
  • Systems and Networking

• Theory:

  • Algorithms
  • Mathematics

• Other Sciences:

  • Ecology & Environment
  • Economics
  • Medical, Health, and Genomics
  • Social Sciences
  • Technology for Emerging Markets

Innovations and Platforms:

The group develops and contributes to various platforms and tools that accelerate AI research and development. Key areas include:

• Platform and tools for AI: Open-source, multi-platform deployable software and tools to speed up AI research and development.
• New database architecture for cloud computing: Designing next-generation database services that are elastic, scalable, and customizable for diverse workloads.
• One stack cloud system infrastructure: Utilizing customized hardware and software for networking to achieve unified communication and universal virtualization.
• Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge: Integrating AI into cloud and edge systems to enhance cloud services and edge devices.
• Compiler and optimizer for deep learning: Developing a full-stack solution for compiling and optimizing deep learning workloads across various hardware platforms.
• Blockchain systems and applications: Creating systems, tools, and analytics for efficient, secure, and privacy-preserving blockchain, along with novel applications in decentralization.

Research Achievements:

The Systems and Networking Research Group (Asia) has a strong track record of designing, building, analyzing, and optimizing production systems and tools that power Microsoft's infrastructure and services. Their work has been recognized in top-tier conferences such as SOSP, OSDI, SIGCOMM, NSDI, MOBICOM, MOBISYS, USENIX ATC, SoCC, EuroSys, VLDB, SIGMOD, PLDI, ICSE, FSE, PPoPP, CVPR, and AAAI. They have received multiple best paper awards, including at OSDI, NSDI, Mobisys, Eurosys, and ICSE. The group actively collaborates with other Microsoft teams to advance the state-of-the-art in next-generation infrastructures and platforms for both academia and industry.

Career Opportunities:

The group is actively hiring for several positions:

• Researcher (all levels)
• Visiting Researcher (for professors on sabbatical)
• Intern (for students currently in China)

Interested candidates are encouraged to explore current opportunities and contact msra-srg-hire(at)microsoft(dot)com for inquiries.

Location:

Microsoft Research Asia is located in Beijing, China. The address is:

12F, Microsoft Building 2, Danling Street, Zhongguancun, Haidian District, Beijing, China.

Social Media and Engagement:

The group maintains an active presence on social media platforms to share updates and engage with the community:

• Follow on X (formerly Twitter)
• Like on Facebook
• Follow on LinkedIn
• Subscribe on YouTube
• Follow on Instagram
• Subscribe to their RSS feed

They also encourage sharing of their content via X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Reddit.

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• Surface Devices: Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Laptop Go 3.
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• Education: Microsoft Education, devices for education, Teams for Education, Microsoft 365 Education.
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