• A Hybrid Conference – In-Person and Virtual Presentations
  • Technical Conference:  24 – 28 March 2024
  • Exhibition: 26 – 28 March 2024
  • San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA
PRESS RELEASE

03 March 2016

OFC 2016 to Deliver the Most Comprehensive Mix of Technical and Industry Programming

Conference and exhibition brings together global industry leaders and innovative demonstrations
 
WASHINGTON — OFC 2016, the most comprehensive international event for both the science and business of optical communications, will host thousands of attendees from around the globe, more than 560 exhibiting companies from more than 65 countries and more than 1,100 technical and business presentations. For over 40 years, OFC has brought together the entire scope of optical communications including technical programming, exhibits and other activities for all audiences from systems and components manufacturers to service providers, carriers and enterprise. 
 
WHAT: Optical Fiber Communications and Conference and Exposition (OFC)
 
WHEN: 20-24 March, Technical Conference
              22-24 March, Exhibition
 
WHERE: Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, California, USA
 
The industry’s most comprehensive exhibition features:
  • Exhibits from major international companies, such as Alcatel-Lucent, Avago, Ciena, Coriant, Corning Incorporated, Cisco Systems, Fujitsu Optical Components, Global Communication Semiconductors, Inc.; Huawei Technologies USA, Juniper Networks, Mitsubishi International, and more. Exhibitors include network and test equipment vendors, systems and component manufacturers, fiber cable and specialty fiber manufacturers.
  • Two Exhibit Hall theaters of business programming, featuring presentations by experts from major global brands and key industry organizations, including Alibaba Group, Coriant, Cisco, Facebook, Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, Verizon, and many others.
  • Local Representation from more than 100 California-based companies on the exhibit floor, including; Broadcom, Brocade, Intel, Lumentum, Mellanox and more.
HIGHLIGHTS:  Complimentary exhibition floor programming includes:

Market Watch: Tuesday, 22 March – Thursday, 24 March  
This three-day series of panel discussions engages the latest application topics and business issues in the field of optical communications. Presentations and panel sessions feature respected speakers from across the optics industry, including Apple, Cisco, Finisar, Google and Infinera. Topics covered this year include submarine interconnection of data centers, 100G pluggable optics, 400G Ethernet technologies, among others.  

Service Provider Summit: Wednesday, 23 March, 10:30 – 15:00 
This program is specifically designed for CTOs, network architects, network designers and technologists within the service provider and carrier sector. The Summit includes panel discussions, a keynote presentation, exhibit time and networking time.

Keynote Presentation: Margaret Chiosi, Distinguished Network Architect, AT&T, USA
Presentation Title: Network Function Virtualization – Hype or Reality?
 
Additional Presentations: Expo Theater Programming

State of the Industry - Analyst Panel: Tuesday, 22 March 10:30 – 12:00
One of the of the most highly attended panels at OFC, where industry and financial analysts give their interpretation of where the markets are going, what research they have been presenting and what to expect for the year to come. Top trends in all markets will be presented with a focus on specific calculated and reported market data points that are helpful to all.

Next Generation Data Center Optics: Tuesday, 22 March, 12:45 – 14:45
This panel discussion will compare and contrast the needs and solutions for the hyperscale and enterprise data center markets, for both the next wave of deployments at 25GbE and 100GbE, as well as the next generation based on 50GbE, 400GbE and possible derivatives (e.g. 200G).

The Promising Market of 100G and Beyond Pluggable Devices: Tuesday, 22 March, 14:30 – 16:30
This panel of industry experts will strive to determine the potential winning technology from the wide variety of options as well as answer the following questions: Is it reasonable to see a price of $10/Gbps for 100G pluggable components, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the various design approaches and when will 400G pluggable components be available in mass production?
 
COBO - What It Is and Why Should You Care?: Wednesday, 23 March, 10:30 – 11:30
The Consortium for On-Board Optics (COBO) debuted at OFC 2015 and this panel will provide an update on the consortium outreach and efforts. With shared perspectives from an optics supplier, network equipment manufacturer and a datacenter end user, attendees will learn how this industry consortium is advancing on-board optics and the impact it’s going to have on the market.

The State of Ethernet Optics: Wednesday, 23 March, 14:30 – 15:30
Hosted by the Ethernet Alliance, this panel will discuss the latest developments and advancements in Ethernet that include 25/40/50/100/200 and 400GbE optics. Ethernet is the largest consumer of optics with over $1B/year in optics revenue to the module vendors.

The Global Colocation of Market - Are Worlds Colliding?: Wednesday, 23 March, 15:30 – 16:30
The global colocation market is a $26 billion market today and is estimated to grow to $43 billion in 2018 (Synergy Research). Colocation providers come in many flavors these days, those that focus on space and power and define themselves as ‘carrier neutral’, while others are beginning to offer more service provider-like services like cloud exchange/cloud connect. This presentation will detail new optical technologies that colocation providers will need in the years ahead.
 
Impact of Mega Data on the Industry Supply Chain: Thursday, 24 March, 11:00-12:00
Unprecedented demand for servers, switches and optical connectivity in mega data centers created a whole new market segment and restructured the industry supply chain in 2010-2015. Has this restructuring been completed by now or is it just the beginning? It is possible that Amazon, Google and Microsoft have already made most of their impact on the industry by now? This panel will discuss both current and future demands on the industry.
 
Sanity Check - Where are we on 25GE and 50GE?: Thursday, 24 March, 12:30 – 13:30
In July 2014, Microsoft spearheaded the effort to push 25G and 50G devices for server connections within the data center. The first products are expected in early 2016. This panel will look at a realistic timeframe for commercial availability of components and when will they be actually used in networks, the percentage of these connections of copper versus optical connections and provide an update on key use cases at each data rate.
 
IoT Industrial Deployment: Thursday, 24 March, 13:30 – 14:30
When embedding network capabilities in “things,” there are architectural decisions to be made that guarantee the Internet of Things (IoT) is scalable, inclusive of several communication media, secure, future proof and viable for businesses and end-users. This panel will discuss the Internet of Things and the challenges that it presents to businesses and end-users assuming adoption of the TCP/IP model. Panelists will discuss the impact on applications, security, big data, IPv6 and optical networking.

MEDIA REGISTRATION: Media/analyst registration for OFC 2016 can be accessed online.
 
Please visit the event website at OFC for additional information, including travel arrangement details.
 
About OFC
OFC is the largest global conference and exposition for optical communications and networking professionals. For over 40 years, The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC) has drawn attendees from all corners of the globe to meet and greet, teach and learn, make connections and move business forward.
 
OFC includes dynamic business programming, an exposition of more than 550 companies, and high impact peer-reviewed research that, combined, showcase the trends and pulse of the entire optical networking and communications industry. OFC is managed by The Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the IEEE Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc), and the IEEE Photonics Society. OFC 2017 takes place 19 -23 March at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, USA.
 
Media Contacts:
media@ofcconference.org