• 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

Day 1: Sunday, March 9 - OFC 2014 Kicks off in San Francisco

PRESS RELEASE

10 March 2014

Day 1: Sunday, March 9 - OFC 2014 Kicks off in San Francisco

Moscone CenterAttendees have started arriving in sunny California for the first day of OFC. Those coming from colder climates were thrilled to no longer need a coat outside and things inside the Moscone Center were also heating up as well.

Short Courses for Expanded Learning

The day kicked off with short courses on a variety of topics from OFDM for optical communications to datacenter networking, fundamentals of supercomputing and more. Short courses allow attendees to learn about new products, cutting-edge technology and vital information at the forefront of optical communications and are taught at levels from beginner to advanced.

“There are nine courses that are hands-on courses, meaning attendees really touch and feel to get a real understanding of the technology,” Vishnu Shukla of Verizon Labs and OFC 2014 General Co-Chair explained. “There are data center design courses. There are courses for dynamic networking.  So it should address the interests of almost all our audiences who are interested in learning from real experts in their area.”

Short courses will continue through Tuesday. View the full list of courses.

Workshops Provide Interactive Experience

Also on tap for the opening day were workshops which provide opportunities to discuss and debate the latest technologies. Topics are controversial in nature and meant to be highly interactive, amongst both the speakers and the audience.

The workshop “Will the Optimum Space-division Multiplexing System and Fiber Be Determined by Fiber Nonlinearities?” discussed recent research results that show the technical feasibility of space-division multiplexing and its large potential to increase capacity beyond the nonlinear Shannon capacity limit of single-mode fibers. The workshop also focused on what nonlinear effects are present in space-division multiplexing (SDM) fibers and what their impacts are on SDM transmission and capacity. Speaker Mark Shtaif of Tel Aviv University, told attendees that when calculations are done of few-mode fiber nonlinear noise, the situation should not be oversimplified, which often happens and that the assumption should agree with practice system. Lars Gruner Nielson of OFS, also spoke at the workshop, and said that based on today’s technology, when manufacturing the fiber, differential group delay is manageable for at least 15 modes.

Workshop AudienceAnother popular workshop asked if optical standards are keeping up with demand. Since 100G standards based optical interfaces were introduced into the market, concerns have been raised that these do not meet the needs of end users. The workshop was held in a debate format with Bikash Koley of Google leading the side that argued that standards are not keeping up. Chris Cole of Finisar lead the team which feels that standards are working just fine. Team members were recruited from the component, System OEM and end user communities, and discussed 100G and beyond layer 1, 2 and 3 standardization needs and solutions. Tweet at @OFCconference, using #OFC2014  and let us know which side you think won and why.

HP, Facebook and Other Key Players Talk SDN

Workshop attendeesSoftware defined networking (SDN) promises to be a key enabler for a new generation of networks because it provides flexibility and control for emerging network applications. As the capacities increase and bandwidth management becomes an issue of wavelength or fiber management, photonic devices are becoming increasingly important tools for network control. A key question today is what role photonic devices can play in these SDN systems. To help answer this question, OIDA hosted a collocated workshop at OFC on Software Defined Photonic and Data Center Networks.

The workshop sought to answer many questions including if optical devices are highly specialized in their operation, performance, and control—to what extent is SDN control desirable or even practical, what role can emerging standards for photonic integrated circuits play in bringing SDN to photonics and what features of photonic devices should be made visible to SDN control and what standardization might be required?

Tom Hausken of OIDA said, “this workshop was about matching the promises of SDN—a major change for the way equipment will be sold and operated—with the realities of the optics at the physical layer.  What can SDN deliver at the optical level, and what’s unrealistic?  What will be needed from the optics?”

OFC On the Go

Be sure to download the OFC 2014 mobile app (Apple and Google Play stores) so you can take the conference schedule, maps, news and more with you on your handheld device throughout the week. And remember: share the buzz from your week on Twitter using the #OFC2014 hashtag.