Robert Haas

Robert Haas leads one of the technical departments at the IBM Research Europe laboratory in Zurich, focusing on software and hardware for AI and Hybrid Cloud. He started his career in networking with IBM Research – Yorktown in 1996, after graduating from EPFL (Switzerland) and Université de Nice-Sophia-Antipolis (France). He then joined the Zurich laboratory, did his Ph.D. with ETHZ, developed the new KMIP standard for security, and completed his MBA with Warwick University before returning to the USA in the Corporate Strategy team in Armonk. There he launched the transition of storage to the Cloud, and became the CTO for Storage Systems in Europe. In 2018, he took the leadership of the Hybrid Cloud Research Department at IBM Research Europe in Zurich.

Personalia (in reverse chronological order)

• Department Head, Hybrid Cloud Research, IBM Research - Zurich
• CTO for Storage, Europe, Technical Strategy, IBM Systems, 2015 - 2017.
• IBM Senior Technical Staff Member, 2014.
• Corporate Technical Strategy, IBM Corporate Headquarters (Armonk, NY), 2012 - 2014.
• MBA (with distinction), Warwick Business School, 2011.
• Manager of Storage Systems Research at IBM Zurich Research Labs (Switzerland), 2008 - 2012.
• Research Relationship Manager for the Financial Services Sector, 2007 - 2012.
• IEEE Senior Member, 2004.
• Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ, Zurich), 2003.
• Research Staff Member at IBM Research, Zurich (Switzerland) 1998 - 2008.
• Research Staff Member at IBM Watson Research (Hawthorne, NY), 1996 - 1997.
• DEA (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies en Réseaux et Systèmes Distribués, 1996) from the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis (France), 1996.
• M.Sc. in Communication Systems from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL, Lausanne) and the Eurécom Institute (Sophia Antipolis, France), 1996.

Awards

• IBM Research Division Technical Group Award for Contributions to the Integrated Switch Router, February 1997.
• IBM Certificate of Completion of Micro-MBA Program, April 2000.
• IBM Research Division Award for Contributions to the Mobile Networking Technology Demonstration and PAR, December 2000.
• IBM Research Division Technical Accomplishment Award for Leadership in TKLM Product and KMIP Standard, 2010.
• IBM Research Division Outstanding Technical Accomplishment Award for Leadership in TKLM Product and KMIP Standard, 2011.
• IBM Corporate Award for Building Standards, May 2015.
• IBM Invention Achievement Award, 16th Plateau, Dec 2017.