Federico Fornari

Cloud Computing Engineer
Computing, HPC and Cloud Systems, Cloud Systems

Summary:
Dr. Federico Fornari is a Cloud Computing Engineer in the Cloud Systems Section at ECMWF. His work focuses on the design, deployment and automation of cloud-based infrastructures supporting EU-funded projects such as EO4EU, BUILDSPACE and CLIMRES. He develops and maintains microservices-oriented architectures and centralized infrastructure management solutions using Infrastructure-as-Code practices. His current activities aim to streamline scalable computing environments for data-intensive Earth observation and climate applications across distributed platforms.
Career background:

Before joining ECMWF, Federico Fornari worked at Cineca, where he automated cloud storage management using Ansible and integrated NetApp with VMware and enterprise backup solutions such as Commvault and Kasten.

Previously, at INFN-CNAF, he contributed to the computing infrastructure for major physics experiments and European projects, supporting the transition from LSF to HTCondor and advancing distributed systems, virtualization and identity management solutions. He participated in collaborations such as the INFN Cloud and CNAF-CERN working groups, and in EU-funded initiatives including eXtreme DataCloud.

Earlier in his career, Federico was involved in international research projects in astroparticle physics and space science, including the ANTARES undersea neutrino telescope, the OPERA experiment at Gran Sasso, and the ESA Euclid mission, where he worked on detector characterization and test environments for satellite electronics in collaboration with INFN. He also collaborated with CNR on 3D genome structure analysis and spent time at Fermilab (FNAL), contributing to data management systems for the CDF experiment.

Federico holds a PhD in Physics from Università di Bologna.