PRESS RELEASE

04 March 2013

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

OFC/NFOEC 2013 to Feature Breakthrough Research, Technology-focused Programming at the World’s Leading Optical Communications Event

Hot topics covered to include cloud and datacenter networking, SDN, optical and wireless convergence, 100G/400G optimization, photonic integration, and more

WHAT: Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition/National Fiber Optic Engineers Conference (OFC/NFOEC) 2013

WHEN/WHERE: March 17 - 21 (Exhibits open March 19 - 21) at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif.
 
DETAILS: As the largest and most comprehensive international event for both the science and business of optical communications, this year’s conference—with more than 12,000 attendees expected, along with more than 550 exhibiting companies (45 percent based outside the U.S.) and more than 800 technical and business presentations—will host the entire scope of optical communications, providing technical programming, exhibits and other activities for all audiences from systems and components manufacturers to service providers, carriers and enterprise. 
 
Featuring:

• Comprehensive technical program, featuring both the OFC and NFOEC programs, which includes hundreds of sessions, workshops, tutorials, short courses and paper presentations on the latest optical communications research from more than a dozen topical areas.
• Leading companies in the Exhibit Hall—from network and test equipment vendors to systems and component manufacturers, plus software, fiber cable and specialty fiber manufacturers.
• Three Exhibit Hall theaters of business programming, featuring presentations by experts from major global brands and key industry organizations, including Verizon, Juniper, Google, Sprint, Microsoft, Cisco, Corning, the Ethernet Alliance, Optical Internetworking Forum, and many others.

HIGHLIGHTS:  Technical and business programming highlights include:

• OFC/NFOEC Plenary and Awards Session - Tuesday, March 19, 8 – 11 a.m.
  Join these industry leaders for a unique perspective into today’s business realities:
  • Caio Bonilha, President and CEO, Telebras, Brazil
    Presentation: Telebras National Backbone: Deployment Challenges
  • Nick McKeown, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Stanford University, USA
    Presentation: Software-Defined Transport Networks
  • Brian Protiva, CEO, ADVA Optical Networking, Germany
    Presentation: Capitalizing on Network Transformation in the Age of Programmable, Multi-Layer Infrastructures

• Private Press & Analyst Luncheon - “Examining the Flexible Network” - Tuesday, March 19, 12 – 1:15 p.m.
  Demand for core and datacenter network flexibility is putting new requirements on infrastructure vendors. During this panel, end-user requirements will be explored, along with their impact on hardware, and the current development status.  The following will be addressed:
  • What flexibility features are service providers looking for?  What problems are they solving?  How do these features support the service provider business?
  • Where are flexibility features needed?  In the telecom network core?  Inter datacenter networking? Intra datacenter networking?
    What new requirements is flexibility placing on equipment and hardware vendors?

• Daryl Inniss, vice president and practice leader, Components, Ovum, moderator
• Caio Bonilha, president and CEO, Telebras
• Bill Gartner, vice president and general manager, Cisco Systems
• Brian Protiva, CEO, ADVA Optical Networking

• The Buzz – A Real-time Look at the News and Trends Happening at OFC/NFOEC 2013 –  Wednesday, March 20, 3:30 – 4:15 p.m., Expo Theater I
  This new session will feature real-time analysis of the 2013 OFC/NFOEC show floor buzz, analysis of industry news announcements and what they mean to the industry. An unscripted “fireside chat,” this program will feature three industry analysts discussing the hot exhibitor news announcements, trends and show buzz—offering an exclusive real-time industry insider’s perspective.

• Technical Presentations – Sunday, March 17 – Thursday, March 21
  Hundreds of educational workshops, short courses, tutorial sessions and invited talks covering hot topics such as cloud and datacenter networking, space divison multiplexing, 1Tb and beyond optical networking, flexible grid networks, virtualization and software-defined networks, photonic integration, and more.

• Post-Deadline Paper Presentations – Thursday, March 21, 6 – 8 p.m.
  Post-deadline papers give conference attendees the opportunity to hear new and significant research in rapidly advancing areas at the earliest possible opportunity. The post-deadline session highlights only those papers judged to be truly excellent and compelling in their timeliness.

• Special Symposia – Monday, March 18 and Tuesday, March 19

• Enabling the Cloud – Monday, March 18, 1:30 – 6:05 p.m.
  Cloud computing has emerged as a new paradigm that provides on-demand, efficient, secure, reliable and cost-effective computing and storage services. Technology is playing an increasingly prominent role as cloud providers offer more complete and robust services and as more enterprises enter the market. Networks among datacenters and between clients and datacenters are essential resources – just as essential as computers and storage devices – and the industry is adapting their networks to meet the particular challenges of cloud computing. Speakers from IBM, Cisco, ADVA Optical Networking and the university research community will provide in depth discussions of how networks can enable the cloud, focusing on new network technologies both within datacenters and between datacenters.

• Convergence of Wireless and Optical Networking  - Tuesday, March 19, 2 – 6:30 p.m.
  The unprecedented growth in demand for wireless services has spurred a race among carriers to upgrade and build out their mobile and fixed broadband wireless networks. As both the number of wireless sites and the bandwidth per site continue to increase, the importance of well-engineered optical/wireless networks has become ever more apparent. Speakers from NTT Labs, AT&T Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, France Telecom, Ericsson and others will discuss key 4G/5G mobile technologies and their potential blueprint for optical access, requirements mobile imposes on optical backhaul networks, how much integration between wireless and optical is required, and whether software-defined networks can help solve bandwidth bottlenecks in backhaul.

• Rump Session: Silicon Photonics: Disruptive Technology or Research Curiosity?  – Tuesday, March 19, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
  Silicon (Si) photonics has been one of the hottest fields at OFC/NFOEC over the last few years. There have been many invited, contributed, and post-deadline papers that show devices and subsystems with promising attributes such as low power consumption, compact size, WDM capability, and monolithic integration. The dream is that Si photonics can unlock a future of optical chips that integrate high-speed logic/memory with fast and ultra-low power photonic I/O on the same substrate. Yet there is a perception among some that the hype has outpaced the technology and the field suffers from a lack of complete scientific reporting in its publications with significant issues overlooked. This rump session will be a spontaneous discussion among the audience members to air out some overlooked issues and discuss the potential impact of Si photonics on optical networks from a pragmatic standpoint to re-align expectations with reality to move this potentially important technology forward.

• Service Provider Summit - Wednesday, March 20, 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
  This program features topics of interest to CTOs, network architects, network designers and technologists within the service provider and carrier sector. Joe Weinman, senior vice president of cloud services & strategy at Telx will deliver the keynote presentation, “What Cloudonomics Means for the Network.” Panels include “Monetizing the Network - Achieving Value out of the Infrastructure” and “Acquisition and Integration Strategies - Consolidation in the Service Provider Realm” and feature leaders from a global slate of service providers and end users, including Sprint, TCD, Level 3, Zayo and more.

• Market Watch - Tuesday, March 19 - Thursday, March 21
  This three-day series of panel sessions engages the applications and business communities in the field of optical communications. Presentations and panel discussions feature esteemed guest speakers from the industry, research and the investment communities, including JDSU, Verizon, Finisar, Ericsson and others. Topics covered this year include the state of the industry, packet optical convergence, components, high speed pluggable optics for the datacenter, and metro 100G applications.

PRESS REGISTRATION: Media/analyst registration for OFC/NFOEC 2013 can be accessed online.
 
CONTACT: Please contact us or visit the event website at www.ofcnfoec.org for additional information, including travel arrangement details.
   

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, fiber optics and, recently, datacom and computing. Consistently ranked in the top 200 tradeshows in the United States, and named one of the Fastest Growing Trade Shows in 2012 by TSNN, OFC/NFOEC unites service providers, systems companies, enterprise customers, IT businesses, and component manufacturers, with researchers, engineers, and development teams from around the world. OFC/NFOEC includes dynamic business programming, an exposition of more than 550 companies, and cutting-edge peer-reviewed research that, combined, showcase 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. OFC/NFOEC 2013 takes place March 17 – 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. For more information, visit www.ofcnfoec.org