Biografisk notat

Zakaria Benomar is a research fellow at INRIA Paris, France. He holds a Ph.D. in cyber-physical systems from the University of Messina, Italy. His main research interests are currently focused on cloud computing, mobile and distributed systems with particular emphasis on the Internet of Things, edge/fog computing as well as systems’ interoperability. Francesco Longo received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of Messina, Italy, where he is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Engineering. He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers in international journals and conferences. His main research interests include analytical modeling and performance evaluation; reliability and availability of distributed systems; Grid and Cloud computing; Internet of Things and Fog/Edge computing and their applications in the context of Smart Cities; blockchain technologies and their use for IoT, Cloud, and Fog/Edge computing. He is one of the co- founders of SmartMe.IO Srl, an academic spinoff of the University of Messina focusing on transforming the advances of scientific research in the IoT field into solutions available on the market. He is a member of the scientific committee of the Horcynus Orca Foundation and of the Messina Evolved Social District. Giovanni Merlino is tenure-track (senior) Assistant Professor in Computer Engineering at the Department of Engineering, University of Messina. He holds an international PhD in Computer and Telecommunications Engineering from the Department of Engineering (DIEEI) at the University of Catania. His research activity is currently focused on mobile and distributed systems with particular emphasis on Cloud paradigms, Edge computing, Internet of Things, Network Virtualization, Smart sensors, and crowdsensing, co-leading the design of Stack4Things, an OpenStack-based Sensing-and-Actuation-as-a-Service framework for I/O clouds. He has co-authored over 100 papers in international journals and conferences and participated in technical program committees of international conferences. He is co-founder of smartme.IO, an academic spin-off company, co-inventor and holder of an Italian patent in the smart home domain, and an IEEE/ACM member. Antonio Puliafito is full professor of Distributed Systems at the University of Messina, Italy. He carries out research on Cloud computing and the Internet of things. He has been responsible for several national and European research projects. He currently directs the CINI national laboratory on "Smart Cities & Communities," which brings together over 400 researchers in computer science and computer engineering from various Italian universities. He is one of the founders of SmartMe.io, an innovative startup focused on Cyber-Physical systems and very active in smart cities and industry 5.0.