• 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
PRESS RELEASE

23 March 2017

The World’s Largest Optical Communications and Networking Conference, OFC 2017 Concludes in Los Angeles Featuring the Evolution of Silicon Photonics, 5G Networking and the Internet of Things

LOS ANGELES — The Optical Fiber Conference and Exhibition (OFC), held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, has concluded with 663 exhibiting companies, over 1,100 peer-reviewed papers and 14,500 attendees. OFC is the world’s leading conference and exhibition for optical communications and networking professionals. The conference and exhibition connects the industry’s leaders and business professionals to discuss optical innovations for future networking growth segments such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR) and much more.

“With the industry experiencing escalating bandwidth growth coming from disruptive technologies such as VR and IoT, this year’s conference addressed how 5G and next-generation optical networks will evolve,” said Andrew Lord, optical research head at British Telecom and OFC 2017 General Co-Chair. “OFC 2017 continues the tradition of providing an excellent program that captures advances in research, development and engineering. The success of the OFC conference and exhibition 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 event.”

Technical presentations and the “Market Watch” programs drew thought leaders from across the industry. These researchers and industry experts explored numerous global trends, including advances in coherent technologies, developments in the data center and higher capacity product platforms. The attendance to the conference’s short courses designed to educate early professionals and laypersons on the more technical aspects of the field and spanning diverging topics spurring the industry growth, increased by 30 percent this year.

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 140 product, service and partner announcements, including technical advancements in SDN, 200G WDM, 25G Ethernet optics and 5G mobile network enablement. Releases can be viewed here: Exhibitor News.

Researchers from around the world presented industry leading technical peer-reviewed papers, including:
Better By the Dozen: Highest Core Density Realized with 12 Core Single-Mode Optical Fiber — Achieving an industry high 12-cores within a single-mode optical fiber research team from NTT develop a new fiber design which will work to bring us closer to meeting the needs of a Big Data future

Making the Switch to Polarization Diversity — A new silicon-photonic chip from Japan’s AIST paves the way to truly integrated polarization-insensitive switches

Optimizing Data Center Placement and Network Design to Strengthen Cloud Computing — Nokia-Bell Labs group has developed a mathematical model that offers improvements to the flow of internet traffic generated by cloud computing while optimizing data center placement
 
The Golden Link: Plasmonic Device Offers Broadband Modulation to Optical Links at 100Gbit/s — A microscale modulator using plasmonically active gold components developed by ETH Zurich, demonstrates fast operation for ultra-broadband signals
 
On the Exhibit Floor
Leveraging more than 340,000 square feet of exhibit space, OFC 2017 featured more than 663 exhibits from major international corporations such as ADVA, Ciena, Coriant, Corning Incorporated, Cisco Systems, Fujitsu Optical Components, Global Communication Semiconductors, Huawei Technologies USA, Juniper Networks, Mitsubishi International, Nokia and more. Technologies on display include network and test equipment, optical transport systems and optical component, fiber cables 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, AT&T, Cisco, Finisar, Facebook, Google, Juniper Networks, Nokia, Verizon and many others.

ABOUT OFC
The Optical Fiber Conference and Exhibition (OFC) is the largest global conference and exhibition for optical communications and networking professionals. For more than 40 years, 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 exhibition of more than 663 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 2018 will be held from 11-15 March 2018 at the San Diego Convention Center, California, USA. Follow @OFCConference, learn more OFC Conference LinkedIn, and watch highlights OFC YouTube.

Media Contacts:
media@ofcconference.org