Telecommunications visionary receives prize: Dr. Brundiers revolutionizes data flow

Telecommunications visionary receives prize: Dr. Brundiers revolutionizes data flow

The digital infrastructure has now established itself as an integral part of daily life and is a critical prerequisite for modern societies. On September 5, 2025, the KuVS Prize was awarded at the NetSys conference in Ilmenau, which this year went to Dr. Alexander Brundiers from the University of Osnabrück went. This award recognizes his dissertation entitled “Taking the Shortcut – Enhancing Backbone Network Traffic Engineering with Segment Routing Midpoint Optimization,” which promises significant innovation in the telecommunications industry. The prize has been awarded annually since 1991 by the KuVS specialist group, which is part of the Society for Computer Science, to the best dissertation in the German-speaking region. The selection is not easy, as numerous promising works are submitted.

Dr. Brundiers' research, which was carried out in cooperation with Deutsche Telekom, addresses the high demands that modern telecommunications networks place due to the exponential growth in data volumes. Network operators are increasingly relying on innovative methods such as traffic engineering to overcome these challenges. In his dissertation, Brundiers optimizes data flows and simplifies network management, resulting in improved responsiveness to potential failures. These findings are based on commercially available technologies and contribute to the resilience, reliability and service quality of telecommunications networks. Today, such networks are crucial for maintaining digital services and network-based business models.

Growing need for digitalization

Digital infrastructure is not just a technical challenge; it also represents an important competitive factor for business and science. This insight has become increasingly important since the 1990s. The expansion of this infrastructure, particularly through data centers in companies and institutions, has consistently led to an increase in the performance of both fixed and mobile networks. According to Wikipedia, basic broadband access is now seen as a state service of general interest to ensure good accessibility for all citizens.

In 2016, the European Commission emphasized that high-performance broadband networks are essential for the digital single market. Despite all efforts, the target of providing broadband connections of over 30 megabits per second to all citizens by 2020 remains a challenge in many parts of the EU. The expansion of broadband coverage remains inadequate, especially in rural areas, which is also widely criticized in Germany. In 2014, the federal government decided on the Digital Agenda, which aims to expand high-performance networks across the board.

• Wichtige Herausforderungen beim Ausbau der digitalen Infrastruktur:
• Verfügbarkeit
• Zugänglichkeit
• Sicherheit
• Neutralität

The federal government's digital summit regularly highlights the steps necessary to close the digital gap between rural and urban regions. Efficient strategies to improve the digital infrastructure are essential to meet future requirements and guarantee up-to-date supply. The implementation of the Broadband Strategy 2020 is a step in the right direction to achieve this.

In summary, the findings from Dr. Brundiers' research can be seen as a small but crucial contribution to the further development of the digital infrastructure, which is needed now more than ever. The challenges that arise in the area of ​​telecommunications networks are complex and require innovative solutions that must be developed based on the most modern technologies.