PRESS RELEASE
18 February 2015
Contact:
Leah Wilkinson, 703.907.0010, leah@wilkinsonshein.com
OFC Media Relations, 202.416.1947, media@ofcconference.org
Breakthrough Research, Innovating Keynote Presentations and Leading Edge Products at OFC 2015
Monetization of optical networks, SDN, 100G/400G optimization, 1 terabit and beyond optical networking, and integrated photonics technologies among this year’s hottest topics
WASHINGTON—February 18, 2015 – OFC 2015 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. With thousands of attendees, more than 550 exhibiting companies from more than 65 companies worldwide and 800 technical and business presentations, OFC 2015 is the largest and most comprehensive global conference and exhibition for both the science and business of optical communications.
WHAT: 2015 Optical Fiber Communications and Conference and Exposition (OFC)
WHEN: March 22-26 Technical Conference
March 24-26 Exhibition
WHERE: Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
EVENT FEATURES:
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Comprehensive technical program—including sessions, workshops, tutorials, short courses and paper presentations on the latest optical communications research (near- and long-term) and technology from more than a dozen topical areas (i.e. bandwidth exhaust, 100G/400G network design and optimization, 1 terabit (Tb) and beyond optical networking, wavelength agile access networks, and more).
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Leading companies in Exhibit Hall—from network and test equipment vendors to systems and component manufacturers, plus software, fiber cable and specialty fiber manufacturers.
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Executive-level business programming—featuring presentations by experts from major global brands and key industry organizations, including MIT, US Naval Academy, Verizon, Juniper, Google, Sprint, Microsoft, Cisco, Corning, the Ethernet Alliance, Optical Internetworking Forum, Bell Labs, Alcatel Lucent, and many others.
HIGHLIGHTS: Technical and business programming highlights include:
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OFC Plenary Session—Tuesday, March 24, 8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Join these industry leaders for a unique perspective into today’s business realities:
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Neal S. Bergano, vice president, R&D, USA and chief technology officer, TE Subsea Communications, LLC, USA
Presentation: Undersea Fiber Optic Cables – Enabling a Connected World
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Pradeep Sindhu, vice chairman and chief technology officer, Juniper Networks, USA
Presentation: The Future of Transport Networks
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Kevin Slavin, assistant professor of media arts and sciences, MIT Media Lab, USA
Presentation: How Algorithms Shape Our Networked World
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Service Provider Summit—Wednesday, March 25, 8:30 – 9:00 a.m.
This program is specifically designed for CTOs, network architects, network designers and technologists within the service provider and carrier sector. The Summit includes panel discussions, a keynote presentation, exhibit time and networking time.
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The Buzz – A Real-time Look at the News and Trends Happening at OFC – Wednesday, March 25, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Three top industry analysts will share their insights on 2015 OFC show floor buzz, analysis of exhibiting company news announcements and what they mean to the industry. This unscripted session will give the audience an exclusive real-time industry insider’s perspective into the most important exhibitor news announcements, trends and show buzz.
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Technical Program – Sunday, March 22 – Thursday, March 26
Hundreds of educational workshops, short courses, tutorial sessions and invited talks cover hot topics including cloud and datacenter networking, bandwidth exhaust (space division multiplexing), 1Tb and beyond optical networking, virtualization and software-defined networks, silicon photonics, integrated photonics, wavelength agile access networks, 100G/400G network design and optimization and more.
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Post-Deadline Paper Presentations – Thursday, March 26, 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.
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Rump Session – Is it 'Game Over' for Hardware? – Tuesday, March 24, 7:30p.m. – 9:30p.m.
Some industry trends like SDN appear to make optics hardware engineering and innovation irrelevant and shift innovation into software-based network control. Other industry trends like Silicon Photonics appear to create great new opportunities for hardware innovation. This session will address questions such as, “Are reliable optics no longer needed? Is it cheaper to replace failed units since the failure doesn’t impact operation in a software-controlled environment? Do super cheap optics require even more creativity from hardware engineers?”
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Special Symposia – Monday, March 23, Wednesday, March 25, and Thursday, March 26
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Beyond The Gold Box: The Future of Integrated Optics— Wednesday, March 25, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
The on-going explosion of data and the need to move and process it efficiently demands ever greater amounts of optical I/O at every level. A special symposium at OFC 2015 will focus on how packaging and integration may be used to lower cost for different applications in the network. A consistent theme will be a focus on optimizing the integration of optics and electronics as a path to dramatically reduce the cost of traditional “gold box” optical modules. This symposium tackles the topic of packaging and integration technologies, targeting high capacity optical transport for line-side, client-side and inter- and intra- data center applications.
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Enabling The Cloud: Unleashing the Capabilities of Emerging Flexible Optical Transport through SDN and NFV – Monday, March 23, 1:30 – 6:00 p.m.
This symposium will attempt to shed light on potentials and benefits of combined SDN, NFV and programmable hardware as the basis of an emerging framework for optical infrastructure evolution for telecommunication and cloud service providers. It brings together leading experts from industry and research to discuss solutions for extending SDN and NFV frameworks, protocols and new functions in optical data plane technologies such as programmability within context of data center, metro and core networks.
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Future of Broadband Access – Thursday, March 26, 1 – 5:30 p.m.
This symposium will examine the trends and technologies poised to shape the future of broadband access. Key drivers, including 5G mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), and universal/unlimited access initiatives, as well as their potential ramifications on future broadband access will be discussed. From the technology perspective, presentations will delve into the competing options for the access segment, including a summary of the latest advances in fiber, copper, and wireless technologies. Important operational aspects affecting access networks will also be examined.
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Market Watch – Tuesday, March 24 – Thursday, March 26
This three-day series of panel discussions engages the latest application topics and business issues in the field of optical communications. Presentations and panel sessions feature esteemed guest speakers from industry, research and the investment community, including Verizon, Infonetics Research, AT&T Labs, and Juniper Networks. Topics covered this year include the state of the industry, network convergence verses equipment divergence, monetization of optical networks, and integrated photonics technologies, among others. The program will be located on the exhibit floor, so ALL attendees can easily visit the sessions and tour the exhibit hall.
PRESS REGISTRATION: Media/analyst registration for OFC 2015 can be accessed online.
About OFC
OFC is the largest global conference and exposition for optical communications and networking professionals. For more than 40 years, The Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exposition (OFC) has drawn attendees from all corners of the globe to meet and greet, teach and learn, make connections and move business forward.
OFC includes dynamic business programming, an exposition of more than 550 companies, and high impact peer-reviewed research that, combined, showcase the trends and pulse of the entire optical networking and communications industry. OFC is managed by The Optical Society (OSA) and co-sponsored by OSA, the IEEE Communications Society (IEEE/ComSoc), and the IEEE Photonics Society. OFC 2015 takes place March 22-26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, USA.