Prof. Kralov stated that the new interdisciplinary specialties are focused on modern technologies and contemporary engineering solutions. He thanked the business community for its participation in developing the curricula and programs, in training, as well as in establishing the university's most modern laboratory infrastructure. He added that all of this contributes significantly to the qualification and professional growth of future engineers graduating from the Technical University – Sofia.
The laboratory will be used to train students from the Faculty of Telecommunications, primarily in the master's specialty "Corporate and Industrial Networks," in the courses "Data Centers," "Cloud Technologies and Services," "Data Storage Networks," and "Software-Defined Networks." It will provide every student with the opportunity to work with equipment that they rarely have access to. Upon starting their professional careers in major Bulgarian and international companies, students will be able to see and operate similar types of equipment. Training in this specialized laboratory will prepare them better and enable them to enter their profession more quickly, allowing them to demonstrate the qualities and skills they have already acquired.
Dimitar Bairev, a manager from IBM, noted that it is important for students to know that these machines provide a high degree of freedom in their professional work. According to him, students will become familiar not only with different types of hardware architecture but also with a more distributed environment that allows for greater flexibility in experimenting under real practical conditions. The business sector, he added, requires higher workloads, and resources must be directed entirely toward understanding this architecture. He stated that experimentation is necessary so that those being trained can acquire greater flexibility, which is an important component sought by most modern companies.
Representatives of IBM, deputy rectors, deans, faculty members, and students were present at the official opening.
