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Tech Industry Veteran Greg Papadopoulos to Keynote OFC/NFOEC 2012 Plenary Session

PRESS RELEASE

27 October 2011

Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer OFC/NFOEC +1.202.416.1435 lmeyer@osa.org

Tech Industry Veteran Greg Papadopoulos to Keynote OFC/NFOEC 2012 Plenary Session

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27–New Enterprise Associates venture partner and former Sun Microsystems CTO Greg Papadopoulos is set to give a keynote presentation at the plenary session of the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC), taking place in Los Angeles March 4–8, 2012. Papadopoulos will speak on the topic "How to Design and Build Your Very Own Exascale Computer."

In his talk, Papadopoulos will give his insight into the "computer as a network." Additionally, in light of advances in datacom systems—where Exaflop machines will incorporate tens of millions of optical links—he will discuss the pivotal role of optics in computers not only at the network level, but into the backplane and onto motherboards and modules.

"We are thrilled to have Greg joining us as keynote speaker at OFC/NFOEC next year," said conference co-chair Bob Jopson of Alcatel-Lucent. "His experience in the datacom and supercomputing community, especially given his tenure at Sun Microsystems, is highly regarded and his insights into this field will provide OFC/NFOEC attendees with an invaluable perspective into new areas in which optical communications is headed. I look forward to hearing Greg's thoughts on optical technologies and network protocols, as well as his vision for the future of this growing field."

Papadopoulos is a 20-year veteran of the computer industry and is currently serving as a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital and growth equity firm. Previously, Papadopoulos was the chief technology officer at Sun Microsystems, where he directed the company's $2 billion R&D portfolio. He was also an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, where he conducted research into scalable systems and was on the founding team of three technology companies: PictureTel (videoconferencing), Ergo Computing (PCs), and Exa Corporation (fluid dynamics). He was also senior architect at Thinking Machines Corporation, where he led the design of the successor of the CM-5 MPP supercomputer. Earlier in his career, he was a development engineer at Hewlett Packard and Honeywell. Papadopoulos serves on the University of California's President's Board on Science and Innovation, is a trustee for the SETI Institute and the Computer History Museum, holds a B.A. in systems science from the University of California San Diego, and earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in engineering from MIT.

Joining Papadopoulos as a plenary session keynote speaker is Milo Medin, Google's vice president of access networks, announced last month. Medin will speak on "Bandwidth, Optics and the Age of Abundance." For more information on the conference and exhibition, visit www.ofcnfoec.org.

EDITOR'S NOTE: High-resolution images of Papadopoulos and Medin are available to members of the media upon request. Contact Lyndsay Meyer, lmeyer@osa.org.

About OFC/NFOEC
For more than 35 years, the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/ National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) has been the premier destination for converging breakthrough research and innovation in telecommunications, optical networking and, recently, datacom and computing. Uniting service providers, systems companies, enterprise customers, IT businesses and component manufacturers, along with researchers, engineers and development teams, OFC/NFOEC combines dynamic business programming, an exposition of more than 500 companies and cutting-edge peer-reviewed research into one event that showcases the trends and pulse of the entire optical communications industry.

OFC/NFOEC is managed by the Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers/Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc) and the IEEE Photonics Society. Acting as a non-financial technical co-sponsor is Telcordia Technologies, Inc. Visit www.ofcnfoec.org.