The Munich Network Management Team (MNM Team) is a group of researchers at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), the Technische Universität München (TUM) and the Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ). Directed by Professor Dr. Dieter Kranzlmüller and Professor Dr. Heinz-Gerd Hegering, the MNM Team is one of the first groups in Germany to have addressed the research area of IT management. Since its foundation more than 25 years ago, more than 350 publications, over 40 Ph.D. theses, and several hundred Master's/Diploma Theses, supervised student projects and development project reports have been published.
The fundamental issues driving the research effort revolve around the manageability of networked systems, including adequate management concepts, tools, and IT processes. For several years, comprehensive work has been done on architectures for integrated management and on implementations of distributed management solutions for dedicated management areas, e.g., configuration, accounting, and fault managament. The work is based on practical experiences and knowledge gained from intensive cooperations with providers of large heterogeneous networks and software developers in the field of integrated management as well as scientific research in the institutions of the MNM team.
The team comprises around 30 researchers, (about 10 of them pursue their Ph.D. studies), as well as numerous students. We cooperate closely with the chairs of Prof. Dr. Gabi Dreo Rodosek (Federal Armed Forces University, Munich) and Prof. Dr. Claudia Linnhoff-Popien (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich)
The team's research work considerably benefits from the fact that most of its members have responsibilities for operational management of large IT-infrastructures in complex organizational environments. Consequently, many research and development projects stem from real life experiences (e.g. LRZ, DFN, commercial projects). The LRZ environment, on the other hand, provides a platform for research results and prototypes to undergo thorough proof-of-concept evaluations in concrete service environments.
This situation, though unusual for a research team, strengthens the group's credibility with business and industry partners and eases the acquisition of research grants. The pursuit of research goals takes into account standardization documents as well as "best practice" collections (e.g. ITIL, eTOM) and relates to business management aspects such as business process modeling and the forming of virtual organizations. As a matter of course, the research topics investigated by the team are reflected in specific lectures, courses, and seminars.