4 March 2011
With OFC/NFOEC just around the corner, I thought it might be fun to guess at what the big news might be on the show floor. While predicting buzz can be a hazardous endeavor, the steady ramp up in press releases leading up to the big event, plus the program guide give pretty good hints.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By David Chaffee | Posted: 4 March 2011
Before the first trans-oceanic optical transport system, there were papers and presentations at OFC describing how seemingly fragile, hair-thin strings of glass would transmit millions of photons every second while resting on the ocean's floor.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By Rick Dodd | Posted: 3 March 2011
Conference Program. The buzz around this subject is justified – the benefits of coherent optical transmission will allow tremendous increases in capacity while simplifying planning and deployment. However, let me go out on a limb and say that I think the concept of coherent may be underhyped. Coherent is such a fundamental shift in optical networking that it allows an opportunity for the industry to "think big" about the possibilities.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By Biswanath Mukherjee | Posted: 2 March 2011
What do optical communications and optical networking do to enable cloud services, a necessity due to the high-bandwidth demands that people like you and I put on the network because of new video-enabled applications? How can our industry meet the demands of the exponential growth in traffic from these applications? And what does it all mean to our society? One of OFC/NFOEC’s plenary speakers, Bruno Orth of Deutsche Telekom AG, will tackle this topic from the network operators’ perspective. He’ll talk about how providers are working to transform their networks to meet these increased demands. It’s really a must-see presentation.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By Atul Srivastava | Posted: 1 March 2011
OFC/NFOEC is widely recognized as the premier conference in the field of optical communications. What I find is a real distinction for OFC/NFOEC is that the conference also features a strong trade show. The entire virtuous cycle connecting optical research with product development and then applications is represented. The combination of both the frontline research being presented at the conference and the presence of the latest products that are being released on the trade show floor give a full package to any person who comes and attends this conference.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By Chuck Joyner | Posted: 24 February 2011
Believe it or not, some of the programming at OFC/NFOEC this year is an experiment. As a program committee, we are focused on developing technical programming that is dynamic and responsive to the emerging topics in the industry.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By Clint Schow | Posted: 24 February 2011
It's no secret that we're shipping more and more data these days, sharing more videos, and transferring larger files. For data centers, that translates into demand for more bandwidth to connect racks and racks of machines. This year, for instance, IBM will install Blue Waters, its petascale supercomputer at the University of Illinois with more than 2 million optical links, just to support the interconnect fan within it. Looking forward, the trend in supercomputing points to machines with even more optical interconnects.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By David Nugent | Posted: 24 February 2011
If you haven't already contemplated how cloud computing will affect optical networking then fasten your seatbelt because 2011 is squaring up to be a transformational year for this industry.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By David Chaffee | Posted: 22 February 2011
Even the purest optical bench scientist will admit to at least a dim understanding of the money flowing into and out of the fiber optics industry at any one time. Investment funds provide job security, allow researchers better tools, offer more meaningful travel and better collaborations, increase understanding, and promote efficiency, an ability to do the job, and more opportunity.
Read the full post | 0 comments
By Jim Jones | Posted: 18 February 2011
As President of the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), I am looking forward to once again bringing OIF programming to OFC/NFOEC. Our two-day program will feature speakers from Cisco, Infinera, Alcatel-Lucent as well as an exciting cross-section of member companies that include carriers, system vendors and component suppliers.
Read the full post | 0 comments