Marten Gartner

Marten Gartner

Senior Network Architect & Distributed Systems Engineer

Specializing in high-performance networking, eBPF dataplanes, and highly concurrent Go architectures. Architect of global backbone networks and cloud-native Kubernetes controllers, bridging deep-tech R&D with production-grade execution.

Technical Expertise

High-Speed Networking

Deep expertise in SCION, BGP, and kernel-level packet processing. Utilizing eBPF, XDP, and DPDK to bypass OS bottlenecks for zero-latency data transfer.

Distributed Systems & Go

Designing fault-tolerant, highly concurrent backend architectures in Go and C. Focus on managing distributed state, gRPC, and mitigating tail latencies at scale.

Cloud Native & Control Planes

Engineering custom Kubernetes operators, CNI plugins, and CI/CD pipelines. Building robust infrastructure logic that natively scales with modern orchestration tools.

Professional Experience

Senior Network Architect & PhD Candidate

2021 — Present

Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg

Served as Lead Architect and Core Developer for "SCIERA", a global backbone research network. Developing "Cilion", an open-source eBPF-powered K8s CNI plugin. Directed research on Zero-Trust network topologies and highly concurrent distributed systems in Go.

Freelance Software Architect

2018 — 2022

Independent Contractor

Engineered robust backend systems (Node.js, Go) and dynamic frontends. Managed microservice deployments, container orchestration, and spearheaded the migration of legacy monolithic systems into scalable cloud architectures.

Core Architecture Projects

FLAGSHIP

Cilion: eBPF K8s CNI

A custom Kubernetes Container Network Interface (CNI) written in Go and C. It integrates SCION multipath internet architecture directly into cloud-native clusters by dynamically programming eBPF/XDP hooks for kernel-level encapsulation and routing.

View Repository
Go / C eBPF / XDP Kubernetes Control Plane

SCIERA Global Backbone

Lead Architect for a globally distributed backbone network connecting international institutions. Engineered fault-tolerant Go APIs and telemetry pipelines (TimescaleDB) to monitor multi-tenant multipath traffic across borders.

Distributed Systems Go / TimescaleDB

Streambear

High-performance developer-focused video server for scalable VOD and live streaming. Features a stateless, multi-cluster architecture using mTLS and cryptographic tokens to eliminate database bottlenecks at the edge.

High-Throughput Go / K8s

Distributed DNS Scanner

Architecture and implementation of a highly distributed system for DNS exploration. Focused on high throughput, intelligent load balancing, and real-time aggregation of massive network databases.

Go / Network Programming

Algorithmic Trading System

Designed and implemented an automated low-latency trading solution for forex and crypto markets. Focus on reliable API execution and robust asynchronous logic.

Low-Latency Python / Go

Secure Odroid Chatbox

Engineered secure and anonymous chat devices based on Odroid hardware. Implemented end-to-end encryption and custom Linux OS hardening for maximum data sovereignty.

Embedded Security

Selected Publications

Contributing to the future of the internet through research on the SCION architecture, high-speed packet processing, and path-aware networking.

2025 - 2026 (Upcoming & Recent)

  • Path‑Aware or Cost-Aware? Why ISPs don't have to fear End‑Host Path Choice in SCION
    CONEXT 2026 (Submitted, In Review)
  • A Scalable, Source-Controlled Multicast Architecture over SCION
    NOMS 2026 (Submitted, In Review)
  • IPFS over SCION: Secure and Performant Content Retrieval on Next-Generation Networks
    CNSM 2025
  • Scaling SCIERA: A Journey Through the Deployment of a Next-Generation Network
    ACM SIGCOMM 2025

2023 - 2024

  • UMCC: Uncoupling Multipath Congestion Control through Shared Bottleneck Detection in Path-Aware Networks
    LCN 2024
  • Hercules – High-Speed Bulk-Transfer over SCION
    IFIP Networking 2023

Pre-2023 & Books

  • The Complete Guide to SCION (Chapter 12)
    Springer 2022
  • XDP-Accelerated Packet Processing on SCION Endhosts
    NOMS 2022

Education & Grants

PhD Computer Science

Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg

Focus: High-Performance Networking & Distributed Systems

2021 — 2026

Research Scholarship

State of Lower Saxony Research Grant

2022 — 2025

Ready to scale the architecture?