2024 Plenary Session

The 2024 OFC Plenary

Plenary Session Speakers

• 

  Anita Döhler

  Chief Executive Officer, Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN)

  Talk: How 6G will Impact Networking

  This presentation explores NGMN's pivotal role in advancing the Mobile Industry towards next-generation networks, encompassing Operator led requirements on 6G, sustainability, and cloud-native. With a prerequisite to deliver new use cases that create value and exceptional end-user experiences this presentation looks at trade-offs that will need to be made, for example energy consumption versus bit rates and identifies the critical role optical communications will play in enabling these Operator led requirements, for example disaggregation, resilience and energy efficiency.

  About the Speaker

  Anita Döhler brings a wealth of international experience across diverse business sectors, including senior leadership roles within mobile network operators, technology vendors, and consulting firms. Between 2016 and 2020, she held prominent senior management positions at Accenture Industry X.0. Prior to her tenure at Accenture, Döhler amassed 16 years of experience at Vodafone Group, and earlier in her career, she contributed her expertise to E-Plus and Philips, among other notable organizations. Döhler holds a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Telecommunication Engineering and has also earned an Executive MBA degree. She is also a Systemic Business Coach.

   

  Döhler is passionate about propelling technological innovation for the betterment of humanity and societies, with a steadfast commitment to supporting the world’s foremost operators, vendors and research institutes.

• 

  Inder Monga

  Executive Director, ESnet, and Scientific Networking Division Director, Berkeley Lab

  Talk: Networking Alchemy: Transforming Science Through Connectivity

  Scientists are driven to answer some of the world’s most fundamental questions – from the origin of the universe to the future of humanity and our biosphere. Answers lie hidden in the deluge of data being gathered 24/7 from experiments, observations, and simulations. Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), the Department of Energy's data circulatory system, seeks to harness and accelerate the creativity of vital research collaborations while pushing the boundaries of networking in experimenting with what a quantum computing network might look like. This talk will describe global-scale science and its workflows, innovations being explored to meet its rapidly evolving needs, and the engineering behind the science networks of today and the future.

  About the Speaker

  Indermohan (Inder) S. Monga is the Director of Berkeley Lab’s Scientific Networking Division and Executive Director of Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), the Department of Energy’s high-performance network user facility. Optimized for large-scale science, ESnet connects and provides services to more than 50 DOE research sites, including National Laboratories, supercomputing facilities, and scientific instruments, as well as peers with 271 research and commercial networks worldwide. In addition to managing ESnet, Inder works to advance the science of networking for collaborative and distributed research applications by contributing to ongoing research projects, including quantum networking. He is the holder of 25 patents.

• 

  David J. Richardson

  Partner Researcher, Microsoft

  Talk: Emerging Fiber Technologies for Future Optical Networks

  Major advances have been made in recent years on the development of radically new transmission fibers offering improved optical properties and systems performance relative to conventional single mode fiber technology, with some of the most promising, including hollow core fiber, now deployed in the field.  I review progress in these emerging technologies and discuss where they are likely to prove most disruptive and impactful in future optical networks.

  About the Speaker

  David Richardson joined Microsoft as a Partner Researcher in February 2023 following their acquisition of Lumenisity Ltd, a spinout company that he co-founded in 2016 to develop hollow core fiber cables and solutions for telecoms and datacoms. Prior to joining Microsoft, Richardson had a remarkable 34-year career at the esteemed Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton. For the last 24 years of his tenure there, he held the position of Deputy Director, leading a sizable research group that worked on the forefront of optical fiber technology and its applications in telecommunications, high-power lasers and sensing.

   

  Throughout his career, Richardson has collaborated extensively with companies and universities worldwide, resulting in an impressive body of work that includes over 500 journal papers and 20 patents. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and of the Royal Academy of Engineering.