The Synchromedia lab at Ecole de Technologie Superieur (University of Quebec) is seeking for a PhD candidate in the area of cloud middleware. Along with the expansion of NGN, cloud solutions have recently been deployed by many world class telecom carriers, such as AT&T, British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, to provide a dynamic and virtualized infrastructure platform that enables subscribers to access their IT and networking infrastructure as a service. While focusing on IT cloud hosting services based on an NGN infrastructure, the core communication services of these carriers have so far not been migrated to clouds. In Canada, Bell Canada and Telus were among the first major telecom providers in the world to deploy NGN, particularly in large cities, like Toronto and Montreal. With a growing subscriber base, these carriers are under pressure to simplify network maintenance, as well as to offer world class managed services and reduce operational costs. Therefore, a cloud-based communications model is becoming critical to the success of their business. Current cloud architectures, however, do not meet Telco service requirements, because they are similar to public Internet clouds which are server-centric.  The Green Telco Cloud project, supported by Ericsson and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, is aimed at developing the first cloud model that supports large-scale Telco applications. The work will be based on OpenGSN, an open-source cloud middleware that empowers the first carbon neutral network of data centers in the world (http://greenstarnetwork.com). The GSN middleware will be improved with interfaces enabling green cloud middleware to exchange environmental data and controlled functions, along with the current compute, network and storage interfaces. These interfaces will be interoperable and scalable through consistent architectural approaches, including virtualization technology and SOA. Features of OpenStack will also be integrated.  The successful candidate will be working at Synchromedia lab, renowned by world-class projects in cloud computing, such as PanLab I, PanLab II, HPDMNet, and GreenStar Network. He/she will also obtain valuable experience through internships at Ericsson Research Center at Montreal, the largest of this multi- corporation’s R&D centres outside Sweden.  Required qualifications: -          Strong expertise in large-scale distributed systems, cloud computing or high-performance computation -          Excellent programming skills in Linux environments (Java, Python, scripts) -          Strong background in modeling and optimization -          Experience with cloud middleware, like Amazon EC2 and OpenStack, is an asset -          Good communication and writing skills -          Knowledge of French is not required for this position.  Applications shall include a CV, transcripts, and a cover letter. Applicants will be contacted for an interview.Contact: knguyen@synchromedia.ca