Enlarging the SIGCOMM tent

At every Sigcomm conference the corridors buzz with ideas about how to improve Sigcomm. It is a healthy sign that the premier conference in networking keeps debating how to reinvent and improve itself. In 2012 I got the chance to throw my hat into the ring; at the end of a talk I spent a few minutes describing why I think the Sigcomm conference should be greatly expanded. A few people encouraged me to write the ideas down. My high level goal is to enlarge the Sigcomm tent, welcoming in more researchers and more of our colleagues from industry. *More researchers* because our field has grown enormously in the last two decades, and Sigcomm has not adapted. I believe our small program limits the opportunities for our young researchers and graduate students to publish new ideas, and therefore we are holding back their careers. *More colleagues from industry* because too few industry thought-leaders are involved in Sigcomm. The academic field of networking has weak ties to the industry it serves, particularly when compared to other fields of systems research. Both sides lose out: there is very little exchange and transfer of ideas in either direction, and not enough vigorous debate about the directions networking should be heading.