OFC/NFOEC 2010, March 21-25, back in San Diego.
OFC/NFOEC 2009 showed that industry innovation is alive and well. With milestone technical talks – from a post-deadline paper that revealed a record-breaking 32Tb/s of data carried over a single fiber to a proof-of-concept study for a more cost-effective way of extending high-speed Internet into rural areas – and more than 100 new product introductions – including a tunable circuit pack for 40G transmission and a tunable XFP – the conference and exposition continued to provide the most relevant technical and commercial developments in the field.
The plenary session was the talk of the show with three dynamic speakers who provided thought-provoking discussions of some of the hottest topics in the field. The Market Watch and Service Provider Summit programs also addressed some of the topics at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts – from the state of the optical industry to the growth of FTTx on a global scale. The special Rump Session on the capacity crunch challenge was one of the conference’s highlights – a true exchange of ideas – and the Future Internet Symposium deeply examined what’s needed for the next-generation network.
Despite the difficult economy and continued industry consolidation, OFC/NFOEC 2009 boasted nearly 9,500 attendees and 550 participating companies, well ahead of today’s tradeshow industry trends. It goes to show that even when times are tough, OFC/NFOEC remains the industry’s premier forum for the science and business of optical communications.
For next year, attendees again can look forward to innovative sessions on the most important technical and business topics. 100G surely will still be a central subject – with Philippe Morin’s assertion that 100G will become a reality in 2009 – and the growing work on tomorrow’s network will also be a critical point as OFC/NFOEC attendees and exhibitors explore new ways to meet expanding bandwidth demands on a global scale. Mark your calendars for OFC/NFOEC 2010, March 21-25, back in San Diego.
