PRESS RELEASE

24 March 2016

Successful 2016 Optical Fiber Communications Conference Concludes in Anaheim

World’s Largest Optical Communications and Networking Conference Featured Evolution of Data Centers, SDN, Silicon Photonics, Network Speed and Efficiency

ANAHEIM, California—This  year’s OFC Conference and Exhibition, held March 20 – 24 at the Anaheim Convention Center, featured 580 exhibiting companies, more than 1,160 peer-reviewed papers and exceeded 13,000 attendees. An exciting array of show floor programs featuring industry experts highlighted the need to keep current with developments in the field. Mirroring a dynamic and growing industry, OFC continued its multi-year growth pattern with 10 percent growth in net square footage sold.

“OFC is the networking event of the year,” said Kathleen Tse, AT&T, OFC 2016 General Co-Chair. “It’s where the global community involved in optical and data networking comes together to take the pulse of the industry. This year was no exception. The event’s premier conference program reflects the hard work and dedication of many, including the technical program chairs, subcommittee chairs and committee members. Thank you to all the volunteers for their contribution to this world-class conference.”

Technical talks and the Market Watch programs drew the most innovative names in telecom, optical communications and datacom.  These researchers and industry experts explored numerous global trends including advances in 200G to 500G coherent technologies, lower cost ROADM technology, higher capacity product platforms, higher speed components, faster test equipment and much more.

“With the industry experiencing escalating bandwidth needs and the constant change in data rates from 10G to 40G to 100G, this year’s OFC was one of the most exciting I can remember. The attendance to our short courses increased by 50 percent this year spanning diverse topics—from optical components to optical transport systems,” said OFC 2016 General Co-Chair Ken-ichi Sato, Nagoya University, Japan.

Hot Topics in Optics
This year’s exhibit floor and conference featured global leaders, diverse programming, interactive workshops and unique technical sessions. OFC exhibitors made more than 160 product, service and partner announcements, including technical advancements in SDN, 200G WDM, 25G Ethernet optics and the surge in demand for the new 100G QSFP28 format. Releases can be viewed here: Exhibitor News.

Researchers from around the world presented industry leading technical peer-reviewed papers, including:

New Optical Transmitter Enables Better Communication Networks — to meet today's data demands, a new bandwidth variable transmitter could serve as a crucial part of flexible and optimized optical networks
 
Germanium-based Photonics Offer Promise for Novel Sensors and Faster Internet — researchers from University of Tokyo have successfully built fundamental components from the semiconductor germanium for integrated photonic circuits that work at mid-infrared wavelengths and could improve Internet speeds
 
Record-breaking Signal Transmission Capacity Paves the Way for Faster Internet — promising larger capacity optical communication systems researchers from ZTE have experimentally demonstrated the highest capacity signal transmission for a two-kilometer single mode fiber inter-connect
 
Record-breaking Reach for Low-cost Data Transmission between Data Centers — researchers from ADVA Optical Networking in Germany demonstrate highest speeds yet by use of PAM-4 transmission

On the Exhibit Floor
OFC’s exhibit floor showcased major international companies, such as Avago, Ciena, Coriant, Corning Inc., Cisco Systems, Fujitsu Optical Components, Global Communication Semiconductors, Inc., Huawei Technologies USA, Juniper Networks, Nokia, Mitsubishi International and more. Exhibitors include network and test equipment vendors, systems and component manufacturers, fiber cable and specialty fiber manufacturers.

The exhibition hall theaters featured business-focused programming with presentations by experts from major global brands and key industry organizations, including Alibaba Group, Coriant, Cisco, Facebook, Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, Verizon and many others.

About OFC
OFC is the largest global conference and exposition for optical communications and networking professionals. For over 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 2017 takes place 19 – 23 March at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, US.
 
Media Contacts:
media@ofcconference.org