"Polynomial evaluation codes with locality"

Abstract: Codes with locality address some of the challenges associated with distributed storage. Distributed storage refers to data storage systems that keep information in more than one location, where locations are connected by a network. Big tech companies (Facebook, Google, Microsoft) each have their own version of a distributed storage system. Error-correcting codes are commonly used to efficiently replicate and store data in a large system where nodes may suffer errors or even just be temporarily taken off-line. This talk will give an introductory look at simple evaluation codes based on polynomials, which were first discovered in the 1960s, as well as some exciting recent developments that apply more sophisticated codes to deal with modern distributed storage issues.