Schedule

Organizer:

Mohamed-Slim "Slim" Alouini, King Abdullah Univ. of Science & Tech (KAUST), Saudia Arabia
Yikai Su, Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ., China

Description:

Terahertz (THz)-band communications are a key enabler for future-generation wireless communication systems that promise to integrate a wide range of data-demanding and delay-sensitive applications. Recent advancements in electronic, photonic, and plasmonic technologies are closing the gap in THz transceiver design. Consequently, prospect THz signal generation, modulation, and radiation methods are converging, and the corresponding channel model, noise, and hardware-impairment notions are emerging. These advancements pave the way to well grounded research directions on THz-specific signal processing and communication  techniques for wireless communications. In this context, this panel aims to go over the opportunities and challenges of communication systems operating in the THz band. It further motivates novel signal processing and communication techniques for MIMO-enabled THz sensing, as well as THz indoor localization.

Speakers:

Xianbin Yu, Zhejiang Univ., USA
Photonics-enabled Ultrafast THz Communications

Akifumi Kasamatsu, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Japan
Development Activities For 300-Ghz Band Transceivers with Electronic Approach

Jianping Yao, Univ. of Ottawa, Canada
Role of Silicon Photonics in Microwave Photonics

Josep M Jornet, Northeastern Univ., USA
Conquering the Spectrum: Ultra-broadband Physical and Link Layer Solutions

Session Description:

AT&T is well along in the deployment of the OpenROADM network. AT&T has deployed OpenROADM equipment from diverse suppliers in over a hundred offices in several metros. The OpenROADM equipment consists of ROADMs, transponders and switchponders operating at 100G, and 400G is completing certification shortly. AT&T will share the OpenROADM journey and learnings.

Moderator:

Steve Plote, Optics Consulting Engineer (Retired), USA

Steve Plote, most recently consulting as a Director of Business Development for Fiber Smart; is an Optics Consulting Engineer.  He has worked with sales teams in the Americas as well as Channel Partners.  Focusing on Network designs for the delivery of real time, next generation services for Video transport, Carrier Ethernet, Consumer Content Distribution, and Cloud Computing.  He has had personal responsibility for the network engineering and support for the WEB2.0 and Content Service Providers in North America.  Mr. Plote has more than 30 years of experience in Data Center Interconnect, Telecommunications and LAN switching and transmission solutions.  Prior to Fiber Smart he was a Webscale Optics Consulting Engineer at Nokia.  Prior to that he was Solutions Business Development and CSP Systems Engineering at BTI Systems and prior to that was Solutions Sales Director at Tellabs.  He has had many professional memberships and committee involvements including NANOG PC, OFC, MEF, IEEE, OSA, IEC and IETF. 

Presenter:

John Paggi, AT&T Labs, USA

John Paggi is the Associate Vice President in AT&T Labs responsible for the architecture and design of the Packet Core, Optical, and Open Disaggregated Hardware solutions. John has several decades of experience with AT&T and has managed many network technology development programs including AT&T’s Open ROADM program, flexible 400G long haul optical platform, three generations of IP/MPLS packet core platforms including the latest Open Dis-Aggregated Next Gen Core, and the provider edge platforms supporting AT&T’s broadband, mobility, Internet, Ethernet, and VPN services.  John has a MSEE from Purdue University.

Session Description:

This session will provide an overview of relevant programs in DARPA's photonics portfolio, specifically highlighting PIPES, MOABB, LUMOS, and DODOS. The session will focus on programmatic goals and technical results from current DARPA performers.

Moderator:

Gordon Keeler, DARPA, USA

Dr. Gordon Keeler is a Program Manager in the Microsystems Technology Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. His work focuses on accelerating the development of emerging photonics, electronics, and integration technologies to enable revolutionary optical microsystems. Prior to DARPA, he was a Principal Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories and received a PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford University.

Presenters:

Gordon Keeler, DARPA, USA
Presentation Title: Integrated Photonics at DARPA

Vladimir Stojanovic, University of California, Berkeley/Ayar Labs, USA
Presentation Title: Optical I/O Journey: From Research Vision to Volume Production

Chris Poulton, Analog Photonics, USA
Presentation Title: Optical Phased Array LiDAR

John Bowers, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Presentation Title: Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits for Data Center Applications

Biographies:

Gordon Keeler, DARPA, USA
Presentation Title: Integrated Photonics at DARPA

Please see above biography.
 

Vladimir Stojanovic, University of California, Berkeley/Ayar Labs, USA
Presentation Title: Optical I/O Journey: From Research Vision to Volume Production

Vladimir Stojanovic is the Chief Architect of Ayar Labs. Prior to founding Ayar Labs, he led the team that designed the world’s first processor to communicate using light. Vladimir is also a Professor of EECS at UC Berkeley, and was one of the key developers of the Rambus high-speed link technology. He holds a PhD from Stanford University.
 

Chris Poulton , Analog Photonics, USA
Presentation Title: Optical Phased Array LiDAR

Christopher Poulton is the Director of Photonic Integration at Analog Photonics where he leads the silicon photonics team developing highly integrated chip-scale LiDAR systems as part of the DARPA MOABB program. He received a B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2014, and a M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2016 where he joined the Photonic Microsystems Group as an NSF Fellow and an MIT Presidential Fellow. There, he performed under the DARPA E-PHI program, demonstrated the first coherent LiDAR with silicon photonics millimeter-scale optical phased arrays, and was denoted a DARPA Riser. He has authored or coauthored more than 50 peer reviewed journal and conference publications along with several patents.
 

John Bowers, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Presentation Title: Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits for Data Center Applications
Abstract: Silicon photonics has become a mainstream technology for high volume, low cost manufacturing of photonic devices and integrated circuits for a wide variety of applications.  Laser integration on silicon has been commercialized using heterogeneous integration and advances are being made for epitaxial lasers on silicon. In some cases, such as widely tunable lasers and self injection locked lasers, performance is orders of magnitude better than native substrate devices, with linewidths of just 1 Hz.

John E. Bowers is Director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency and the Kavli Professor of Nanotechnology in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He received his master's and doctorate degrees from Stanford University. He previously worked for Bell Labs and Honeywell. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA and American Physical Society. He is a recipient of the IEEE/LEOS William Streifer Award, the OSA Holonyak Award, the OSA/IEEE Tyndall Award and the IEEE Photonics award.  He has published two books, eleven book chapters, 800 journal papers, 1000 conference papers and has received 70 patents.

Session organized by International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
 

Session Description:

The international standards (ITU-T Recommendations) developed by Study Group 15 detail technical specifications giving shape to global communication infrastructure. The group’s standards define technologies and architectures of optical transport networks enabling long-haul global information exchange; fibre- or copper-based access networks through which subscribers connect; and home networks connecting in-premises devices and interfacing with the outside world.

This includes the development of standards for the optical transport network, access network, home network and power utility network infrastructures, systems, equipment, optical fibres and cables and the related installation, maintenance, management, test, instrumentation and measurement techniques, and control plane technologies to enable the evolution toward intelligent transport networks, including the support of smart-grid applications.

This session presents hot topics from the latest development of international standards (ITU-T Recommendations) within ITU-T SG15, in particular, standardization work related to transport network support of IMT-2020/5G mobile, Higher Speed PON (Passive Optical Network) including the use of wavelength division multiplexing, latest OTN (Optical Transport Network) and other transport technologies that are applicable to IMT-2020/5G mobile radio access. This session also discusses interoperable optical interfaces at 200 Gbit/s and 400 Gbit/s per wavelength, including development of standardized interoperable interfaces using optical DP-16QAM modulation.

Moderator:

Hiroshi Ota, Study Group Advisor, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Switzerland
Presentation Title: Standardization in ITU-T Study Group 15
Abstract: This presentation shows an overview of the work of ITU-T Study Group 15 (SG15) and introduces the speakers in this session from ITU-T SG15 on optical access networks, multi-vendor interoperable optical interface specifications and optical transport networks (OTN).

Hiroshi Ota is Advisor for ITU-T Study Group 15, which develops standards on networks, technologies and infrastructures for transport, access and home. He supports ITU-T SG15 by providing secretariat services as a staff member of ITU. He also coordinates the work on disaster relief and emergency communication within ITU and with related organizations.

Presenters:

Frank Effenberger, Futurewei Technologies, USA
Presentation Title: Optical Access in ITU-T: Recent Progress on Higher Speed Systems

Fabio Pittalà, Huawei, Germany
Presentation Title: Multi-Vendor Interoperable Optical Specifications in ITU-T

Tom Huber, Nokia, USA
Presentation Title: Recent Topics in Optical Transport Networks

Biographies:

Frank Effenberger, Futurewei Technologies, USA
Presentation Title: Optical Access in ITU-T: Recent Progress on Higher Speed Systems
Abstract: This presentation will review the workplan of Q2, introducing the new public “Flyers” as a guide.  The highlight will be the completion of the Higher Speed PON standard series, which is the natural evolutionary step after XGS-PON. 

Frank has researched fixed access systems for over 25 years at Bellcore, Quantum Bridge, and now at Futurewei, where he is the company Fellow responsible for this area.  He has contributed to the design of many PON systems, the dominant access technology today, and to their standardization by holding leadership roles at ITU-T, IEEE 802.3 and ETSI.
 

Fabio Pittalà, Huawei, Germany
Presentation Title: Multi-Vendor Interoperable Optical Specifications in ITU-T
Abstract: This presentation will review optical multi-vendor interoperable specifications currently under development in ITU-T SG15/Q6.

Fabio Pittalà received his Ph.D from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and his M.Sc. in Telecommunication Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). He is currently working as a Principal Engineer on high-speed coherent transmission systems at the European Research Institute of Huawei in Munich, Germany. He authors 30+ conference/journal papers and 10+ patents. He is also an active contributor to ITU-T SG15/Q6 mainly focusing on the specifications of interoperable coherent 100 Gbit/s, 200 Gbit/s and 400 Gbit/s optical interfaces for Recommendation ITU-T G.698.2.
 

Tom Huber, Nokia, USA
Presentation Title: Recent Topics in Optical Transport Networks
Abstract: This presentation will review recently completed standardization work in ITU-T WP3/15 related to Optical Transport Network (OTN). It also will include some discussion about new work regarding transport of beyond 400G clients.

Tom Huber is part of the optical standardization team at Nokia. He received his B.S. (Electrical and Computer Engineering) from the University of Notre Dame and M.S. (Computer System Engineering) from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has been active in optical networking standardization for more than 20 years. He is associate rapporteur of ITU T Q11/15, Signal structures, interfaces and interworking for transport networks, and has been nominated as a vice chairman of ITU-T SG15, Networks, Technologies and Infrastructures for Transport, Access and Home. He also participates in the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and IEEE 802.3.

Session Description:

Fixed networks based on optical fiber form an essential foundation of modern digital communications. From access networks to core and data center networks, fiber is ubiquitous. Currently, there is an industry-wide effort to set a clear evolution path for fixed networks, similar to that seen in mobile networks with well-defined generations such as 3G, 4G, and 5G. The next generation of fixed networks is being regarded as the 5th generation of fixed networks (F5G). The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has recently established an Industry Specification Group (ISG) for F5G, aiming to define clear generational capabilities and features.

This workshop will bring together experts actively participating in this new F5G initiative, along with those deploying fiber networks and researching how fiber networks might evolve. Many new use cases will be discussed, from conventional telecoms, to emerging applications in vertical industries and in premises networks. Topics in scope of this workshop will also include new technologies for FTTH and LAN, transport networks, network slicing, autonomous operation and end-to-end quality of experience.

The workshop will serve as a forum to discuss what F5G is about and to influence the future evolution of optical fiber networks. We expect a lively exchange of views as F5G is such a new and rapidly moving industry-wide initiative. It is hoped that new research and development activities will be stimulated by such discussions at OFC that will help define future generations of fixed networks in the 5G era and beyond.

Moderators:

Luca Pesando, ETSI’s F5G ISG, Italy

Luca Pesando has more than twenty-five years of experience in Information and Communication Technologies with Telecom Italia. In the company, he is coordinator of standardization activities since 2006. At present Luca is chairman of ISG F5G of ETSI, and vice-chairman of ISG Experiential Network Intelligence (ENI). He is also co-chairman of WP1 in SG13 of ITU-T. In the past, Luca has covered leading roles in various standards initiatives in ESTI and independent Industry forums.

Xiang Liu, Futurewei Technologies, USA

Xiang Liu has over twenty years of experience in optical transport and access networks. He has authored over 350 publications and holds over 100 US patents. He has served as a General Co-Chair of OFC 2018, and is currently serving as a Deputy Editor of Optics Express and an Advisory Board member of NGOF. Dr. Liu is a Fellow of the OSA and the IEEE.

Presenters:

Luca Pesando, ETSI’s F5G ISG, Italy
Presentation Title: Status Update on ETSI ISG-F5G

Philippe Chanclou, Orange, France
Presentation Title: New Applications and Use Cases Related to F5G

Frank Effenberger, Fellow, Futurewei Technologies, USA
Presentation Title: Progress on the Technical Work Items in F5G

Junjie Li, China Telecom, China
Presentation Title: Technical Progress Made by the Next-Generation Optical Network Forum (NGOF)

Biographies:       

Philippe Chanclou, Orange, France
Presentation Title: New Applications and Use Cases Related to F5G
Abstract: This operator presentation concerns the evolution of Orange mobile and fixed accesses customers around the world. We will identify the evolutions of FTTx access technologies which is accompanied by the ETSI F5G. We will also focus on one use-case which is the Passive Optical LAN and its evolution to FTTRoom.

Philippe Chanclou received the Ph. D. and Habilitation degrees in 1999 and 2007. Since 2004, he joined Orange Labs where he was engaged in research on the next generation optical access networks. He is manager of Fixed Access Networks team which involves on FTTx topics for Home, Enterprise and Antenna.
 

Frank Effenberger, Fellow, Futurewei Technologies, USA
Presentation Title: Progress on the Technical Work Items in F5G
Abstract: This presentation will review the workplan of the ETSI F5G ISG, including topics like generation planning, use case development, technical landscape, architecture, quality of experience, end-to-end management, Industrial PON, proof of concept framework, and security.

Frank has researched fixed access systems for over 25 years at Bellcore, Quantum Bridge, and now at Futurewei, where he is the company Fellow responsible for this area.  He has contributed to the design of many PON systems, the dominant access technology today, and to their standardization by holding leadership roles at ITU-T, IEEE 802.3 and ETSI.
 

Junjie Li, China Telecom, China
Presentation Title: Technical Progress Made by the Next-Generation Optical Network Forum (NGOF)        

Dr. Junjie Li has worked with China Telecom for more than 15 years in R&D and deployment of optical communication and networking technology. Currently he is Chief Expert of Optical Transport Network in China Telecom. Junjie got his PhD degree from Tsinghua University, Beijing. Junjie served as China Telecom representative in OIF (Optical Internetworking Forum) from 2008 and was OIF BoD member from 2015 to 2017 and OIF NetOp (Net Operator) WG Chair from 2017 till now. Dr. Li served as a TPC member of OECC2016, OFC2018, OFC2019 and OFC2020. Junjie is one of co-founders of NGOF (Next Generation Optical transport network Forum) and served as the Executive Director of NGOF from 2017.
 

Luca Pesando, ETSI’s F5G ISG, Italy
Presentation Title: Status Update on ETSI ISG-F5G
Abstract: The presentation introduces ISG F5G of ETSI, active now for more than one year to define the features of a fibre network, the fixed 5^th generation, to provide services to the final users as well as to support the mobile 5G  back- and front-hauling, which is essential to fully exploit the 5G radio capabilities. ISG F5G aims at supporting that evolution in cooperation with the well-known traditional players in the fixed network standards area, as ITU, BBF, IEEE, IETF and other. After the first release of use cases, ISG F5G is now ready to deliver a thorough gap analysis and the corresponding technical requirements addressing the whole landscape of fibre 5G, to follow up with a corresponding architecture.

Biography above

Nonlinear Signal Processing Coming of Age: From Niche Lab Demonstrations to Network Components

The OSA Fiber Optics Technology and Applications Technical Group invites you to join them for this special event moderated by Prof. Periklis Petropoulos of the Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, and including a panel discussion with Prof. Peter Andrekson of Chalmers Tekniska Högskola and Dr. Kyle Bottrill, University of Southampton.

Optical nonlinear effects have long been studied for their potential for the processing of optical data signals. Their benefits, when compared to the alternative of O/E conversion and electronic processing, are generally outweighed by complex and bulky configurations that require customization and expert training for their operation. Using the example of wavelength conversion, which represents a fundamental signal processing operation with the potential to simplify network management, Dr. Bottrill will discuss the steps that have been necessary to transform a lab-based experimental configuration involving several independently controlled active components into a turn-key black-box instrument. Professor Andrekson will discuss the challenges involved in implementing an ultrafast optical sampling oscilloscope based on nonlinear effects in optical into a successful commercial product. Members of the audience who have been involved in start-up activities will be encouraged to share their views and experiences.

Moderator:

Periklis Petropoulos, University of Southampton, UK

Panelists: 

Peter Andrekson, Chalmers Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
Kyle Bottrill, University of Southampton, UK


Organized by: 

Xilinx: Xilinx's 16nm FPGAs and SoCs and 7nm Versal™ ACAPs offer multiple architectural components in the form of hardened blocks and soft IP, which make them ideal for designing next-generation security appliances. These IPs include high-speed SerDes and multirate interface IP, such as hardened MAC, PCIe® interfaces, and memory controllers. Xilinx devices also offer the latest state-of-the-art memory architecture with soft search IPs for flow classification, making them best suited for network security and firewall applications.

Speaker: Awanish Verma, Principal Architect & Director Technical Marketing, USA

Presented By

Infinera: This session will explore the transformative XR optics transmission technology and the benefits it provides to network operators. Included will be a discussion on point-to-point use cases, point-to-multipoint use cases, and multi-generational upgrades as well as management and control. The session will explore the use of XR optics in numerous network applications such as 5G, PON, and metro/regional transport. 

Speaker: Dave Welch, Chief Innovation Officer, USA

Presented By

Moderator: Tim Doiron, Infinera, USA

Panel Description:

The State of the Industry is one of the most highly anticipated Market Watch panels at OFC. Each year, a mix of industry and financial analysts present their unique view on the current state of the optical market, discussing areas that encompass components, subsystems, and system manufacturers as well as market influences and drivers. In doing so, the session will cover factors that influenced the past year and describe trends that are expected to define the future. By the conclusion of this panel presentation and Q&A, the audience will have gathered a deeper understanding of the industry with valuable market data points that will help them achieve a better appreciation for the state of the industry.

Speakers:

Alex Henderson, Needham & Company, USA
Presentation Title: 5G Edge Needs, Open Line Systems, Open Compact Modular, 800G, 400G ZR/ZR+

George Notter, Jefferies, USA
Presentation Title: An Improving Environment for Optical

Jimmy Yu, Dell’Oro, USA
Presentation Title: Optical Transport DWDM Systems Equipment Market

Andrew Schmitt, Cignal Ai, USA
​Presentation Title: Coherent Pluggable Trends

Vlad Kozlov, LightCounting Market Research, USA
Presentation Title: Welcome to the New Cold War

Biographies:

Tim Doiron, Infinera, USA

Tim Doiron is Sr. Director, Solution Marketing at Infinera, where he focuses on innovative networking solutions that include open optical networking, disaggregated routing, next-generation mobile transport, and intelligent software automation. In this role, Tim leads the global marketing team responsible for go-to-market strategies and communications programs. Built upon open, disaggregated, and programmable network innovation, Infinera’s solutions enable network operators to increase networking capacity and visibility while accelerating service velocity and simplifying operations. Tim brings more than 25 years of networking and telecommunications experience across business and technical organizations, including roles in marketing, product management, and engineering in executive and managerial roles at vendor and service provider companies, including Coriant, Tellabs, ARRIS, Cadant, Ericsson, and AT&T Mobility. Tim is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has authored numerous articles. He holds an MBA from Webster University, an M.S. in electrical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Southern Illinois University. He also holds eight patents and is a member of IEEE and the Optical Society (OSA).
 

Alex Henderson, Needham & Company, USA
Presentation Title: 5G Edge Needs, Open Line Systems, Open Compact Modular, 800G, 400G ZR/ZR+
Abstract: In this brief presentation, we look at the key changing elements in the Optical Networking market.  The needs and implications of 5G and Edge Compute as increasingly dense edges are deployed and modern micro-services based, Kubernetes orchestrated applications are pushed closer and closer to the user.  We look at the accelerating adoption of Open Line Systems, Open Compact Modular, and the emerging use of 400GZR.  We offer a contrast between 400G ZR and the looming ramp of 800G.

Alex Henderson joined Needham & Company in 2012, where he covers the networking and security technology industries. Prior to joining Needham, Alex worked at Citigroup and Prudential Securities, where he worked as a senior research analyst and served as Prudential’s director of technology research. He has been a senior technology analyst for over 33 years and ranked in the Institutional Investor All-Star Poll 17 times with #1 rank 11 times. He has also been elected to the Institutional Investor Hall of Fame. Alex was ranked #1 in the 2013 FT/StarMine Analyst Awards for stock picking in the Communications Equipment category. He started his career as a consultant at The Boston Consulting Group. He received a B.A. in Physics and Applied Mathematics from Bard College and an MBA from Vanderbilt University.
 

Vlad Kozlov, LightCounting Market Research, USA
Presentation Title: Welcome to the New Cold War
Abstract: The US sanctions against Huawei in 2020 were a declaration on the New Cold War. How will this impact the global optical communications industry?

Vladimir Kozlov is the founder and CEO of LightCounting, an optical communications market research company. LightCounting was established in 2004 with an objective of providing in-depth coverage of market and technologies for high speed optoelectronic interfaces employed in communications. By now, the company employs a team of industry experts and offers comprehensive coverage of optical communications supply chain. Dr. Kozlov has more than 20 years of experience in optoelectronics, optical communications and market research. Dr. Kozlov held market analyst, product development and research staff positions at RHK Inc., Lucent Technologies and Princeton University. Dr. Kozlov holds several US patents and has numerous publications in the area of optoelectronics. He received M. Sc. at Moscow State University in Russia and Ph. D in Physics at Brown University in the United States.

George Notter, Jefferies, USA
Presentation Title: An Improving Environment for Optical
Abstract: For Western Optical systems and components vendors, we expect an improving spending environment based on: 1) rising competitive intensity among Service Providers; 2) new stimulus funding flowing in rural broadband; and potential new market share opportunities vis-à-vis Huawei. 

George C. Notter is a Managing Director and Equity Research Analyst covering the Communications Infrastructure Sector.  Mr. Notter has 25 years of equity research experience exclusively in the Communications Infrastructure Sector.  He joined Jefferies in May 2004.  Prior to Jefferies, Mr. Notter served as a Communications Equipment Equity Research Analyst at Deutsche Bank for four years.  Previously, he performed in the same role for Dain Rauscher Wessels, now a part of RBC Capital Markets.  Mr. Notter received a MS in Finance from the University of Wisconsin (1995).  While pursuing his Masters degree, he managed an investment portfolio for the renowned Applied Security Analysis Program at Wisconsin.  Notter also holds a BS degree in Finance from the University of Wisconsin (1993).  He was ranked #3 in the 2019 and 2020 Institutional Investor All-American Research poll and Runner-Up in the 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 polls.  In 2018, Notter was rated one of the Top 100 Wall Street Analysts for stock-picking performance (TipRanks).  In 2019, he won the Starmine award as the #1 Stock Picker in the Communications Equipment sector.  Notter lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two kids.     

Andrew Schmitt, Cignal Ai, USA
Presentation Title: Coherent Pluggable Trends

Andrew Schmitt is the founder and directing analyst at Cignal AI, where he leads quantitative and qualitative research on the networking market’s entire supply chain. He is quoted and consulted by industry publications such as Lightwave and LightReading and is a member of the OFC Planning Committee. Mr. Schmitt is invited to speak at events including OFC, ECOC, FOE, and IIR conferences. He also provides consulting services to startups, carriers, vendors, and the investment community on developing business opportunities and market strategy.
 

Jimmy Yu, Dell’Oro, USA
Presentation Title: Optical Transport DWDM Systems Equipment Market
Abstract: Presentation reviewing the current and future state of the Optical Transport DWDM market with an industry analyst's view and market forecasts. Topics covered include vendor landscape, competition, and industry changes.

Jimmy Yu covers Optical Transport and Microwave Transmission market research at Dell’Oro Group, and since joining Dell’Oro Group in 2001 has become a recognized authority on the Optical Transport market. Prior to his time at Dell’Oro Group, Jimmy worked in product development at Northrop Grumman, management consulting at Deloitte Consulting, and strategic product marketing at Spansion. Mr. Yu received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Davis and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Yuanqiu Luo, Futurewei, USA

This talk introduces passive optical network (PON) technologies and applications in the optical broadband access areas. It focuses on the latest ITU PON system, 50G-PON. The 50G-PON system is specified by the ITU G.9804 series of recommendations. This talk reviews major features of 50G-PON in both physical and protocol layers. Future research and development work are discussed to drive this solution.

Check out the Demo Zone Demonstrations in action and chat with the presenters.

Visit www.ofcconference.org/en-us/home/program-speakers/demo/ to see them all.

Session organized by Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF)
 

Session Description:

A panel of industry experts and OIF members will provide an update on OIF’s CEI-112G and CEI-224G development work including discussion and debate of 224G modulations.

Moderator:

Nathan Tracy, TE Connectivity/OIF, USA

Nathan Tracy currently serves as OIF’s VP of Marketing and member of the board of directors. During the past ten years he has also served OIF as president, technical committee chair and technical committee vice chair. As a technologist on the system architecture team and manager of industry standards for the Data and Devices business unit at TE Connectivity (TE), Nathan is responsible for driving standards activities and working with key customers to enable new system architectures. Nathan has more than 30 years of experience in technology development, marketing and business development for TE in areas including RF/microwave, and high-speed signaling technology for the networking, telecom, wireless, automotive and defense markets. Nathan is also an active member of other industry standards and associations. Currently he serves the Ethernet Alliance as a member of the board, and he is a regular attendee and contributor to IEEE 802.3 and COBO. Additionally, he is active in a number of industry MSAs and forums where he has held leadership roles. Nathan earned his Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering Technology degree from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

Presenters:

Dave Stauffer, Kandou Bus/OIF, Switzerland
Presentation Title: OIF Common Electrical I/O – History and Future

Gary Nichol, Cisco Systems/OIF, USA
Presentation Title: Considerations for 112 Gbps and 224 Gbps Applications - A System Vendor Perspective

Nathan Tracy, TE Connectivity/OIF, USA
Presentation Title: Channel Considerations for 112 Gbps and 224 Gbps Applications

Cathy Liu, Broadcom, USA
Presentation Title: CEI-112G-MR/LR-PAM4 and CEI-224G Outlooks

Mike Li, Intel, USA
Presentation Title: CEI-112G-XSR/VSR-PAM4 Updates and CEI-224G Outlooks

Thananya Baldwin, Keysight Technologies, USA
Presentation Title: Test and Measurement Challenges for the Higher Rates

Biographies:

Thananya Baldwin, Keysight Technologies, USA
Presentation Title: Test and Measurement Challenges for the Higher Rates
Abstract: With higher speeds, there is a convergence of testing for "what the bit looks like” the same time as "what it carries". Striping data across multiple lanes pose a challenge to traditional, per channel, analog test equipment. To better understand potential issues, a best-in-class test solution must have visibility into both “what the bit looks like” as well as “what it carries”.

Thananya Baldwin is an accomplished engineering leader and recognized thought leader for High-Speed Ethernet (HSE) test products and technologies. She is currently vice president of strategic programs with Keysight’s Networking Labs. In this role, she has led ground-breaking programs enabling introduction of the first 25GE, 40GE, 50GE, 100GE and 400GE test systems. While running these leading- edge programs, Thananya actively participates in the IEEE 802.3 Higher Speed Ethernet standard bodies and Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) projects. Prior to Keysight, she was a technology innovator and evangelist at Ixia, acquired by Keysight in 2018. Thananya holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Engineering and a Master’s of Business Administration. She is an avid world traveler and SCUBA diving enthusiast.
 

Mike Li, Intel, USA
Presentation Title: CEI-112G-XSR/VSR-PAM4 Updates and CEI-224G Outlooks
Abstract: Will review the latest on CEI-112G-VSR-PAM4 and CEI-112G-XSR-PAM4 specifications and provide 224 Gbps investigation results on silicon, channel, and link system for various reaches, from XSR to MR, LR, via simulations and measurements.

Dr. Peng (Mike) Li is an Intel Fellow and the technologist for high-speed I/O and interconnects at Intel Corporation. He serves as Intel’s technical expert and adviser in high-speed I/O and link technology; standards; SerDes architecture; electrical and optical signaling and interconnects; silicon photonics integration; optical field-programmable gate arrays (OFPGAs); and high-speed simulation, debug and test for jitter, noise, signaling and power integrity, from deign validation, to high-volume manufacturing (HVM). Li joined Intel in 2015 with the acquisition of Altera Corp., where he had held a similar role since 2012. Before joining Altera in 2007, Li spent nearly a decade at Wavecrest Corp., culminating in his seven-year tenure as chief technology officer (CTO). He began his career in 1991 as a post-doctorate researcher at the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Li earned a bachelor’s degree in space physics from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, China; a master’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering, both from the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH); and a Ph.D. in physics, also from UAH. Li was named an IEEE Fellow in 2012, an Intel Fellow in 2015, and Engineer of the year (2018, Designcon). He has been elected as an affiliated professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, since 2010.

Cathy Liu, Broadcom, USA
Presentation Title: CEI-112G-MR/LR-PAM4 and CEI-224G Outlooks
Abstract: Will provide status updates on CEI-112G-MR and CEI-112G-LR interfaces and explore modulation options and system performance at next speed node of 224Gb/s over electrical interfaces including die-die/OE, chip-module, chip-chip and copper cables.

Cathy Ye Liu, distinguished Engineer and director, currently heads up Broadcom SerDes architecture and modeling group. Previously she worked as R&D director and distinguished engineer in Avago/LSI which acquired Broadcom in 2016. Since 2002, she has been working on high speed transceiver solutions. Previously she has developed read channel and mobile digital TV receiver solutions. Her technical interests are signal processing, FEC, and modeling in high-speed optical and electrical transceiver solutions. She has published many journal and conference papers and holds 20+ US patents. Cathy has demonstrated her leadership roles in industry standard bodies and forums. Cathy served as a member of the board director of Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) from 2017-2020. Currently she serves as a member of the board of advisors for the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) of University of California at Davis, a member of Signal Integrity Journal editorial advisory board, and the co-chair of the DesignCon technical track of high speed signal processing, equalization and coding.

Gary Nichol, Cisco Systems/OIF, USA
Presentation Title: Considerations for 112 Gbps and 224 Gbps Applications - A System Vendor Perspective
Abstract: This talk will consider the challenges and system needs for next generation 224Gb/s electrical interfaces. The key message will be “Power is Everything”.

Gary is a Principal Engineer working in the Transceiver Module Group (TMG) at Cisco Systems.  He is responsible for defining strategy and technology for high-speed interconnect across Cisco’s routing and switching platforms. Gary also represents Cisco at various industry standards organizations and was an active contributor in the development of 25G, 40G, 100G and 400G standards at the IEEE, OIF and ITU. He was a clause editor for the IEEE 802.3cd project (50 Gb/s, 100 Gb/s, and 200 Gb/s Ethernet) and chief editor for the IEEE 802.3cu project (100 Gb/s and 400 Gb/s over SMF at 100 Gb/s per Wavelength). Gary was also a member of the core team responsible for defining the common management interface specification (CMIS), which is widely used throughout the industry for next generation pluggable optical modules. Gary currently serves as Treasurer/Secretary for OIF. Prior to joining Cisco Gary spent 10 years at Nortel Networks in Ottawa, working in various R&D roles in the development of OC-3, OC-12 and OC48 optical transport products. Gary holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Manchester (UK).

Dave Stauffer, Kandou Bus/OIF, Switzerland
Presentation Title: OIF Common Electrical I/O – History and Future
Abstract: Will cover the (standard) historical timeline, 112G taxonomy, and 224G introduction.

Dr. Stauffer has expertise in logic design and architecture for High Speed Serdes and DDR memory interface applications, both in his current position as Director of Chip Architecture at Kandou Bus, and in his previous position as a Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM. He is a contributor to serial link standards (OIF Common Electrical I/O (CEI), INCITS T11 Fibre Channel, Universal Serial Bus 4, JEDEC JESD247), and is the current Chair of the OIF Physical and Link Layer Working Group. Publications include “High Speed Serdes Devices and Applications”, Springer, 2008.

Nathan Tracy, TE Connectivity/OIF, USA
Presentation Title: Channel Considerations for 112 Gbps and 224 Gbps Applications
Abstract: A review of 112G channel scenarios will be discussed and then a look at possible channels for 224 Gbps will be discussed.

Please see biography above.

Moderator: Loukas Paraschis, Infinera, USA

Panel Description:

Optical Engineering at Scale

Speakers:

Gaya Nagarajan, Director, Network Engineering, Network Infrastructure, Facebook, USA

Biographies:

Gaya Nagarajan, Director, Network Engineering, Network Infrastructure, Facebook, USA

Gaya Nagarajan is an Engineering Director at Facebook. In this role, he responsible for Engineering and Planning infrastructure of the Facebook Backbone Network. Before Facebook, he was at Brocade, where he focused on building products catering to various large service provider customers. Gaya has more than 10 years of experience in networking after completing his masters at University of Kansas. Outside of the network world, he has a passion for sports and enjoys playing cricket, golf and racquetball. 

​Alan Wilner, Univ. of Southern California, USA

The transmission and processing of data in optical communication systems has experienced astounding success and growth. Although there have been many technological advances, there were also many lessons learned as far as what issues can derail the deployment of certain technologies. This presentation will describe some R&D perspectives in terms of concerns and hurdles, with highlights involving capacity growth using multiplexing schemes, performance and functionality enhancement through signal processing, and directionally and bandwidth in free-space links.

Organizers: Nicolas Fontaine, Nokia Bell Labs, USA; Michela Moreolo, Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya, Spain; Chigo Okonkwo, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Netherlands; Georg Rademacher, NICT, Japan

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a research lab looks like and how the scientists, researchers and engineers conduct experiments?

Come join the virtual lab tour event! Eight scientists from around the world will provide a tour of their lab through prerecorded video showing off their equipment, describing their experimental setup and automation techniques, and showing how they fabricate fibers and photonic devices. The demonstrations will be followed by an interactive Q/A session.

Labs Toured:

BT Quantum Networking Lab, UK

Tyndall Optical Device Packaging Lab, Ireland

Fraunhofer HHI Photonic Networks & Systems Lab, Germany

Tyndall Communications Lab, Ireland

Specialty Optical Fibers and Devices, University of Central Florida, CREOL

Moderator: Loukas Paraschis, Infinera, USA

Panel Description:

The networks interconnecting datacenters, commonly referred to as DCI, has grown more than any other transport infrastructure in the last decade, and is projected to grow by several orders of magnitude in the coming years. Consequently, the economics associated with this growth have motivated the development of 1) dedicated DCI networks which account for some of the most spectrally efficient fiber deployments globally, and 2) a new class of purpose-built DCI transport systems. DCIs has also pioneered in optical transport the adoption of software innovations in automation, programmability, management abstraction, and control-plane disaggregation, as well as the introduction of the associated open transport architectures. This panel of industry leaders will discuss the extent to which these innovations have been successful in current and future DCI networks, and debate the important emerging innovations.

Speakers:

Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista Networks, USA
Presentation Title: Market Fit and Product Requirements for 800G-ZR

Chongjin Xie, Alibaba Group, USA
​Presentation Title: Will DCI Become More Diversified and Flexible?

Matthew Mitchell, Facebook Optical Network Engineering, USA
​Presentation Title: Driving Efficiencies in Facebook’s Backbone Network

Yawei Yin, Microsoft, USA
​Presentation Title: A Tale of Two Metro Systems: from PAM4 to Coherent ZR

Michael Strunz-Kroll, euNetworks, Germany
​Presentation Title: OpenDCI from the Ground Up: Scaling Disaggregated Bandwidth Infrastructure Solutions in the European Market

Biographies:

Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista Networks, USA
​Presentation Title: Market Fit and Product Requirements for 800G-ZR
Abstract: This talk will discuss the market fit and product requirements for 800G-ZR, which will provide significant customer benefits when it becomes available in the 2023/2024 time frame.

Andreas “Andy” Bechtolsheim is Chairman, Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder of　Arista Networks, a leading vendor of cloud networking solutions. Previously, Andy was a Co-Founder and Chief System Architect at Sun Microsystems, responsible for next generation server, storage, and network architectures. As a private venture investor, Andy has been involved in the funding of numerous companies including Google, VMware, Mellanox, and Brocade. He has served on the Board of Directors of over 25 companies, the majority of which went public or were acquired. Andy earned a M.S. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1976. He was a doctoral student in Computer Engineering at Stanford University from 1977 to 1982. He has been honored with a Fulbright scholarship, a Studienstiftung scholarship, the Stanford Entrepreneur Company of the year award, the Smithsonian Leadership Award for Innovation, and he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
 

Michael Strunz-Kroll, euNetworks, Germany​
​Presentation Title: OpenDCI from the Ground Up: Scaling Disaggregated Bandwidth Infrastructure Solutions in the European Market
Abstract: Staying successful in the highly segmented European market with newcomer DC operators, traditional telco’s, ISP’s, various sized established players and big content providers means innovation needs to happen across many layers. This presentation will share an insight from a network operator perspective into the latest trends around increasing network density and diversity, deployment of the newest fibre type technologies as well as offering disaggregated open optical solutions and delivering process automation.

Michael Strunz-Kroll is Head of Architecture and Engineering at euNetworks, responsible for the strategic technology and platform decisions, its introduction into operations and life-cycle management. He joined euNetworks in 2011. Michael holds an engineering diploma in telecommunications and is working in the alternative network operator industry for now 20 years. He started his career in IBM and worked in scientific networks when working for the computing center of Berlin Free University. He had various senior technical and management roles when working in network operators like interoute, lambdanet and teragate. Michael had leading roles during past M&A activities of euNetworks making sure a fast frictionless integration maintained the lean operations approach of the company. Michael is directly involved in the design of high scalable solutions in the big content and hyperscale segment.
 

Matthew Mitchell, Facebook Optical Network Engineering, USA​
Presentation Title: Driving Efficiencies in Facebook’s Backbone Network

Matthew Mitchell manages the Facebook Engineering team responsible for optical transport infrastructure outside of datacenters covering the metro, long haul, and subsea space.  Prior to joining Facebook, he served as VP of Optical Systems Architecture at Infinera Corporation, and held positions at Corvis Corporation and Lucent Bell Laboratories.  He earned his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 1995 and 1998, respectively.  He has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications and holds 28 patents in the area of optical transmission and nonlinear optics.
 

Loukas Paraschis, Infinera, USA

Loukas Paraschis is senior director of cloud transport system engineering for Internet and content providers at Infinera. From 2007-2015, Loukas was cisco’s senior technology architect for wireline transport in global service provider, and from 2000-2006 technical leader in cisco optical networking and routing. He has (co)authored more than 100 peer‐reviewed publications, invited and tutorial presentations, book chapters, and 5 patents, has served in many IEEE and OSA leadership positions, including the OFC and JOCN steering committees, as JOCN associated editor, IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer (2009), and is an OSA Fellow (2011). Loukas graduated from Stanford University (PhD 1999, MS 1998) where he worked at the Information Systems and Networking Research laboratories. He was born in Athens, Greece, where he completed his undergraduate studies. 
 

Yawei Yin, Microsoft, USA
​Presentation Title: A Tale of Two Metro Systems: from PAM4 to Coherent ZR
Abstract: Microsoft has experienced and is experiencing the joy and pain of deploying PAM4 and Coherent ZR technologies in large scale in our metro DCI networks. This talk will share the lessons we have learned from such experiences and the indications it has been giving us toward the future of DCI networks. 

Yawei Yin is a principal network developer manager at the WAN Optical Networking team of Microsoft Azure. His focus includes the design, deploy, operation and automation of the metro, long-haul and subsea optical transport networks for Microsoft Azure. Prior to Microsoft, he worked at Alibaba Group as a staff engineer who was leading the design and automation of the optical transport network. Yawei Yin has also been active in optical networking research community for more than 10 years. He has (co)authored more than 80 peer‐reviewed publications, invited presentations, book chapters etc., and is a (co)inventor of 6 patents. He has served the academic community in many different positions, including the technical program committee of IEEE/OSA OFC, IEEE GLOBECOM and ICC conferences, the editor and reviewer of many different academic journals etc. Yawei Yin earned his Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering with a focus on optical networking from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
 

Chongjin Xie, Alibaba Group, USA
​Presentation Title: Will DCI Become More Diversified and Flexible?

Chongjin Xie is a senior director in Alibaba Group, leading an optical network team working on datacenter optical interconnect. Prior to joining Alibaba in 2014, Dr. Xie was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, doing research on optical communications. He was a post-doctor at Chalmers University of Technology from 1999 to 2001, and received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications in 1996 and 1999, respectively. Dr. Xie has published one book, 4 book chapters and over 200 papers. He is a Fellow of OSA and a senior member of IEEE.

This panel of esteemed industry experts will discuss the need for co-packaged optics (CPO) inside the data center. The path to CPO commercialization is fraught with risk. An entire ecosystem must be developed to support the transition from pluggable modules. Our panel consists of specialists who come from different parts of this potential ecosystem to deliberate CPO’s merits, its potential pitfalls, how and perhaps when it can be successful. Please join us for our open discussion.

Moderator: Lisa Huff, Omdia, USA

Panelists:
Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista Networks, USA
Robert Blum, Intel, USA
Mark Filer, Microsoft & OIF, USA
Katarzyna Lawniczuk, Bright Photonics, Netherlands

Session Description:

Dr. Mitchell "Mitch" Fields (1969-2019), a Yale educated optical communications technologist and business executive, was admired by all who knew him for his earnest belief in the good in people and his relentless optimism. The industry lost Mitch in April 2019 from glioblastoma after participating in multiple advanced treatment regimens - many of which he shared during a OFC presentation just a month before. Fields was pivotal in the technology collaboration between IBM and Agilent on the optically interconnected PERCS program in 2007, one of the earliest commercial examples of co-packaging ASICs and optics. As an executive at Avago and Broadcom's optical communications group, he continued to lead the industry in development and adoption of leading edge III-V and transceiver solutions. This session will be a short tribute to honor a community member whose short life impacted so many.

Organizer:

Steve Grubb, Facebook, USA
Priyanth Mehta, Ciena, USA
Georg Mohs, Subcom, USA

Description:

This panel will discuss the value of field trials with modern transponders. 

Key questions for debate are:

• How close will we be able to approach Shannon limit in the field?
• Will field trials be needed or can we characterize transponder performance sufficiently in the lab to predict performance in the field?
• What is an acceptable gap between lab results and field trials?
• Can we use offline processing to reliably demonstrate the capability of next generation technology or are the uncertainties too great?
• What are the parameters in the field that should be controlled in order to allow us to get closer to the Shannon Limit?
• Can DSP help to relax some of the requirements on these parameters?

The panelists will cover a broad range of perspectives from suppliers to users for a lively discussion.

Speakers:

Andreas Leven, Nokia, Germany        

Kim Papakos, Windstream, USA   

Kim Roberts, Ciena, Canada        

Pierre Mertz, Infinera, USA           

Liz Rivera-Hartling, Facebook, USA 

Christian Rasmussen, Acacia, USA

Mattia Cantono, Google, USA          

Towards Converged Open Packet-optical Networks

Organizers: Filippo Cugini, CNIT, Italy; Wataru Ishida, NTT Electronics America, USA; Victor Lopez, Nokia, Spain

This summit will provide the most recent updates and trends on open technologies, architectures and interfaces in Optical Networking. The event will be divided in two parts.

In the first part, invited speakers will give their views on network disaggregation and how it is driving the design of new devices and technologies such as open optical and packet/optical transponders (e.g., Phoenix, Cassini, etc.), open source network operating system, and open planning tools. The speakers will also report on the progress in initiatives such as OpenRoadm, Telecom Infra Project, OpenConfig, and ONF. Finally, relevant room will be devoted to network deployments, covering both access and metro/inter-DC real-world implementations.

In the second part, a panel discussion will enable Operators and Vendors to debate on deployment strategies, challenges in open networking as well as to discuss the expected trends towards fully converged open packet-optical networks.

Speakers:

Vittorio Curri, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Oscar González de Dios, Telefonica, Spain
Fred Gruman, Fujitsu, USA
Hideki Nishizawa, NTT, Japan
Lihua Yuan, Microsoft, USA

Moderator: Hideki Isono, Fujitsu Optical Components, Japan

Panel Description:

Global Datacenter IP traffic, growing rapidly at a 26 percent year over year growth rate, is to become 4.8 Zettabytes in 2022, according to Cisco Visual Networking Index 2019. To meet this huge capacity demand, high speed network systems are being deployed with optics operating at 100Gbit/s and beyond. The IEEE802.3 has completed new Ethernet standards for rates up to 400Gbit/s (802.3bs/cd) in 2018 adopting 25GBaud PAM4 50Gbit/s optical modulation (8x50G). They have also recently introduced the 50GBaud PAM4 100Gbit/s optical modulation format as new Ethernet technology building blocks for 4x100G 400GE optical interfaces. As for electrical interfaces, 50Gbit/s per lane 400GE has already matured (8x50G) and 100Gbit/s per lane 400GE (4x100G) is being discussed. Along with these developments, new pluggable form factor MSAs such as QSFP-DD and OSFP have been commercialized and matured. As a result, maximum system board-level data throughputs have reached as high as 14.4Tbit/s, such as with 400G X 36 Transceivers. The next phase of the datacenter technology roadmap (beyond 400G) remains somewhat unclear. What kind of technologies we should choose and when such migration will occur? In 2019, new MSA such as 800G Pluggable MSA or QSFP-DD800 MSA was organized and solutions for 800G and/or 1.6T can be expected. If industry sticks to pluggable solutions, we will see parallel solutions such as dual- or quad- 400G pluggable modules or will pursue 200G per lane optical solutions. Industry also start considering to adopt the cost effective digital coherent solutions even for intra data center, in order to cover the reach where IM-DD are not able to achieve. Some solutions will require drastic improvements in integration technologies and improvements in CMOS processes below 7nm to restrain increases in power consumption density. An alternative future direction would be on-board optics or co-packaging, which may need new technology breakthroughs and more time to mature. This panel will introduce the views of several industry leaders in this area and evoke discussion among panelists and the floor.

Speakers:

Brad Booth, Microsoft, USA
Presentation Title: Network Diversity

Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista Networks, USA
Presentation Title: 800G and 1600G Pluggable Optics

Jeffery Maki, Juniper Networks, USA
Presentation Title: 800G and the Crossroad to Optic Digitalization: The Path to Scaling and Efficiency

Mark Nowell, CISCO, Canada
Presentation Title: Data Center Networking: New Speeds, New Problems, Many Solutions

Sy (Sang-Yoon) Rhee, Fujitsu Optical Components America, Inc. (FOCUS), USA
Presentation Title: Candidates for Next Generation Data Center Optics

Robert Blum, Intel, USA
Presentation Title: Integrated Silicon Photonics for High-volume Data Center Applications

Biographies:

Andreas Bechtolsheim, Arista Networks, USA
Presentation Title: 800G and 1600G Pluggable Optics
Abstract: With development of 800G Pluggable Optics Modules based on 100G Lambda well underway with many products being launched at OFC this year, the question is what comes next. In this talk I will discuss the status of 1600G Pluggable Optics Modules development based on 200G Lambda PAM4 and other higher-order modulation formats.

Andreas “Andy” Bechtolsheim is Chairman, Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder of Arista Networks, a leading vendor of cloud networking solutions. Previously, Andy was a Co-Founder and Chief System Architect at Sun Microsystems, responsible for next generation server, storage, and network architectures. As a private venture investor, Andy has been involved in the funding of numerous companies including Google, VMware, Mellanox, and Brocade. He has served on the Board of Directors of over 25 companies, the majority of which went public or were acquired. Andy earned a M.S. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1976. He was a doctoral student in Computer Engineering at Stanford University from 1977 to 1982. He has been honored with a Fulbright scholarship, a Studienstiftung scholarship, the Stanford Entrepreneur Company of the year award, the Smithsonian Leadership Award for Innovation, and he is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Robert Blum, Intel, USA
Presentation Title: Integrated Silicon Photonics for High-volume Data Center Applications
Abstract: The rapid growth in data center traffic has been the key driver for the increased performance of networking equipment, such as Ethernet switches and optical pluggable transceivers. But bandwidth scalability challenges around density, cost, and power will require much tighter integration of optics and networking silicon in the near future. We will discuss how silicon photonics combined with advanced packaging approaches can enable higher density, reduced power per bit, and ultimately the continued scalability of network bandwidth and performance.

Robert Blum is General Manager of New Business and Sr. Director of Marketing for Intel’s Silicon Photonics Product Division. Prior to joining Intel, Robert was Director of Strategic Marketing at Oclaro Inc., and held various Director of Product Management and Marketing roles for Oclaro’s telecommunications products and consumer laser portfolio. Before joining Oclaro, Robert was Product Line Manager for optical transmission components at JDS Uniphase Corporation and held various engineering and marketing management roles at Gemfire Corporation, all in California. Robert worked at Deutsche Telekom’s research labs in Darmstadt, Germany, while completing his master’s thesis and holds a doctorate degree in Physics from the University of Technology in Hamburg. He has also studied and done research at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Switzerland, and at Stanford University, California.
 

Brad Booth, Microsoft, USA
Presentation Title: Network Diversity
Abstract: Machine learning, artificial intelligence, front end network, backend network, edge, core, DCI, etc. Equipment and transceiver manufacturers look to find commonality to develop products for market volume, but the list is long on what drives differentiation. Is there commonality to be found or will diversity persist?

Brad Booth is a distinguished leader in technology development and standardization. He is a Principal Hardware Engineer in Microsoft’s Next Cloud System Architecture Group where he leads the development of next generation optical connectivity solutions for Microsoft’s Cloud and AI datacenters. Previously, Brad has held technology strategist and engineering positions at Dell, Intel and Bell-Northern Research. The holder of over 20 patents related to networking technologies, he has also received awards for his contributions to industry consortia and IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standards.
 

Hideki Isono, Fujitsu Optical Components, Japan

Mr. Hideki Isono has been involved in the broad range of major R & D projects in Fujitsu such as passive/active optical components and optical transceivers for over 35years. His current job includes global standardization such as OIF/ IEEE 802.3 and IEC．He received IEC 1906 award in 2013 and now a convenor of SC86C WG4.
 

Jeffery Maki, Juniper Networks, USA
Presentation Title: 800G and the Crossroad to Optic Digitalization: The Path to Scaling and Efficiency
Abstract: Routing and switching system build-out is occurring along two major lines of using a 4-lane or an 8-lane module. Co-packaged optics and near package optics with their own module form factors, yet to be decided, pose additional lines of system build-out. Complexity of the optical transceivers for any of these cases increased significantly from adoption of PAM-4 electrical and optical modulation. This complexity poses challenges for interoperability between the host ASIC and the module. The presenter will review this complexity and how the industry is uniformly managing it by using the Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS).

Dr. Jeffery Maki is a Distinguished Engineer II at Juniper Networks working on cloud optics. He is a member of the board of directors of the Ethernet Alliance as Treasurer and an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet voter. For OIF, he is a member of the board of directors, Physical Layer User Group working group chair and technical voter for Juniper Networks. For the Consortium for On-Board Optics (COBO), he is a member of the board of directors as VP and Treasure and Data Center Networking working group chair.  He is co-chair of the 100G Lambda MSA and a founding member of the QSFP-DD800, QSFP-DD, OSFP, SFP-DD, Open-Eye and OpenZR+ MSAs. He is an OSA and IEEE member. He has a Ph.D. in Optics from The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York.

Mark Nowell, CISCO, Canada
Presentation Title: Data Center Networking: New Speeds, New Problems, Many Solutions
Abstract: With the roll out of 400G underway, new product attention is shifting to what is next. The breadth of options that falls into the what-is-next category is growing rather than shrinking and this talk will focus on putting these in context and share where the likely winners will be.

Mark Nowell is a Cisco Fellow. His focus is on next generation interconnect technology innovation to meet Cisco's needs. Mark is also active within the industry standards and forums and has chaired multiple IEEE 802.3 Ethernet projects. He represents Cisco on various industry alliances and Consortium.  Mark also chairs a number of industry MSA (Multi-source Agreement) groups focusing on next generation optical module form factors (QSFP-DD, QSFP-DD800) and optical interface signaling technology (100G Lambda MSA).
 

Sy (Sang-Yoon) Rhee, Fujitsu Optical Components America, Inc. (FOCUS), USA
Presentation Title: Candidates for Next Generation Data Center Optics
Abstract: This presentation discusses the challenges and solutions towards the development of optical modules that are required for high speed connectivity inside the data center.  Recent progress in module configuration, transmission schemes, DSP, thermal management are reviewed and their future prospects are discussed.

Sy Rhee is Marketing Director/COO of Fujitsu Optical Components America (FOCUS), a subsidiary of Fujitsu Optical Components, Ltd (FOC). He has over 20 years of industry experience in developing and marketing advanced optoelectronic components for optical networking applications. Prior to joining FOC in 2005, Sy held a variety of product development roles at Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor and NeoPhotonics. Sy received his Ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University in Mechanical Engineering.

Moderator: Andrew Schmitt, Cignal AI, USA

Panel Description:

Network operators are deploying the latest 5th generation of coherent optics capable of 800G operation. There are many engineering and commercial challenges involved with building even faster single-carrier systems capable of 1 Terabit operation and beyond. This panel will examine potential DSP, optical, and packaging technologies to make these systems a reality. It will also consider the business case for developing these solutions vs. using lower performance optics as the Shannon limit is reached.

Speakers:

Tom Williams, Acacia (now part of Cisco Systems), USA
Presentation Title: Silicon Photonics for Next-Generation Coherent Interconnects

Martin Zirngibl, II-VI Incorporated, USA
Presentation Title: Enabling Optics & Integration Technologies for Terabit Transmission

Karthikeyan Balasubramanian, Microsoft, USA
Presentation Title: Higher Baud Rate - Benefits and Barriers

Radha Nagarajan, Marvell, USA
Presentation Title: Technology Options to Enable 800Gb/1.6Tb Coherent Modules

Robert Maher, Infinera, USA
Presentation Title: Next Generation Vertically Optimized Digital Coherent MODEMs

Biographies:

Andrew Schmitt, Cignal AI, USA

Andrew Schmitt is the founder and directing analyst at Cignal AI, where he leads quantitative and qualitative research on the networking market’s entire supply chain. He is quoted and consulted by industry publications such as Lightwave and LightReading and is a member of the OFC Planning Committee. Mr. Schmitt is invited to speak at events including OFC, ECOC, FOE, and IIR conferences. He also provides consulting services to startups, carriers, vendors, and the investment community on developing business opportunities and market strategy.
 

Karthikeyan Balasubramanian, Microsoft, USA
Presentation Title: Higher Baud Rate - Benefits and Barriers
Abstract: From network operator’s view point, going for higher baud rate has clear economic ( $/bit/sec), power (fewer transponders) and operational benefits (fewer transponder and line system hardware to manage). Spectrum efficiency (which usually translates to total fiber capacity) exhibits a plateauing effect with higher baud rates - actual SE gain % while going to bauds greater than 100 Gbaud remains to be demonstrated. On the other hand, not all traffic demands are born equal. Elephant and mice flows coexists in our network.  We need to consider the additional problem of wavelength planning and routing in mesh networks, where smaller traffic demand can be handled by lower baud rate channels more easily. Also, new network solutions based on open sourced 400GZR/ZR+ are promising to offer highly integrated solutions with reduced cost and power while promising improving performance numbers. Baud rate decisions in these applications are usually a tradeoff between space, power and spectrum efficiency

Karthik Balasubramanian is a Senior Optical Developer at Microsoft. He currently leads the efforts in planning and onboarding next generation long haul transponders and line systems for the Wide Area Network
 

Robert Maher, Infinera, USA
Presenatation Title: Next Generation Vertically Optimized Digital Coherent MODEMs
Abstract: As the symbol rates of commercialized line cards approach 100 GBd, vertical optimization of the coherent MODEM, where the constituent components of the digital coherent transceiver are co-designed, has become a pre-requisite in order to maintain the high levels of signal integrity required to encode, transmit and successfully decode higher order modulation formats. There are three core building blocks that are critical for high performance optics: digital ASIC design, integrated drive electronics with photonic integrated circuits and high-speed packaging. In this talk we will discuss the evolution of these core technologies that are required to realize the next generation of vertically optimized digital coherent MODEMs.

Robert Maher is a Senior Principal Engineer within the Advanced Optical System Group at Infinera. His work focusses on development and integration of next generation digital coherent MODEMs.
 

Radha Nagarajan, Marvell, USA
Presentation Title: Technology Options to Enable 800Gb/1.6Tb Coherent Modules
Abstract: Extending our 400G ZR systems designs, we explore options to implement 800Gb/1.6Tb coherent systems. These systems will push the baud rate limits >100GBaud, and will need new approaches to the design of the DSP and optical components, and employ 2.5/3D high speed co-packaging of optical and electronics to achieve optimum performance.

Dr. Radha Nagarajan is the CTO & SVP, Connectivity Business Unit at Marvell. Dr. Nagarajan brings more than 20 years of experience in the area of high-speed optical interconnects and design, development and commercialization of large-scale photonic integrated circuits. Dr. Nagarajan is a Fellow of the IEEE, OSA and IET (UK). In 2006, he shared the IEEE/LEOS Aron Kressel Award for his work on commercializing large-scale photonic integrated circuits. He has been awarded more than 195 US patents. He received his B.Eng. from the National University of Singapore, M.Eng. from the University of Tokyo, and Ph.D. from the UC, Santa Barbara.

Tom Williams, Acacia (now part of Cisco Systems), USA
Presentation Title: Silicon Photonics for Next-Generation Coherent Interconnects
Abstract: As adoption of 400G and above coherent interfaces are gaining momentum, the industry is looking toward next-generation solutions that operate above 100Gbaud. Higher speeds will push the limits of optical materials and packaging. Adoption of silicon photonics for coherent interfaces has become more widespread, particularly for pluggable applications. This presentation will discuss the benefits and of silicon photonics in these next generation coherent solutions.

Tom is responsible for global marketing and communications activities for Acacia, which is now part of Cisco Systems. Prior to Acacia, Tom spent 14 years at Optium and Finisar Corporations, where he held various management roles, including Director of Product Line Management for high speed (>100G) transmission products. Tom has also held positions at Lucent Technologies and Northrop Grumman Corporation. He has an MS in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from Widener University.
 

Martin Zirngibl, II-VI Incorporated, USA
Presentation Title: Enabling Optics & Integration Technologies for Terabit Transmission
Abstract: The best way to deal with Shannon Limit is to respect it, and focus our engineering attention on other degrees of freedom -- WDM, multi-core fibers, etc. -- and on enhancing component technologies and integration to achieve lower cost and lower power. This includes component-level innovation in integration of modulation and lasing functions, improvement of net SNR, trading off certain parameters to optimize DSP complexity, new ways of packaging amplification in subsystems, and so on. From a market perspective, another way of looking at this is to consider that high-capacity systems may be a better fit for future shorter reach applications like DCI, co-location or client interfaces for transport networks.

Martin Zirngibl is currently Chief Technologist at II-VI Incorporated. Before the II-VI Incorporated acquisition of Finisar, he was the corporate CTO of Finisar, a position he held since 2018. Martin Zirngibl joined Finisar in 2016 as VP, fellow for technology responsible for strategy for coherent products. Prior to joining Finisar, Martin held progressive managerial roles at Nokia, Bell labs, as director of optical networking research and as executive director of device and subsystems research. He joined AT&T Bell laboratories as member of technical staff. Martin Zirngibl holds a PhD in physics for the Swiss Institute of Technology, Lausanne and a diploma in theoretical physics from the same Institute. He was named Bell Labs fellow in 2008. Martin has published over 100 scientific publications, has filed over 50 patents and wrote one book chapter.

Tektronix: Optical communication development is strongly dependent on laser technology.  Tektronix contributes by providing state-of-the-art tools through numerous stages of the value stream / workflows.

In production, Light-Current-Voltage (LIV) measurements are performed to screen for good and bad parts before shipped to customers. Keithley Source Measure Units (SMUs) are the instrument of choice for off- and on-wafer IV and LIV laser measurements. 
Tektronix Sampling Oscilloscopes perform high speed transceiver testing at 26 GBd and 53 GBd, SM and MM with clock recovery while Tektronix Real Time Oscilloscopes perform analysis for electrical and optical anomalies and for rapid collection of waveform statistics.

Speaker:  Evan Smith, Application Engineer; John Tucker, Product Manager for Keithley SMU Instruments; and Pavel Zivny, Domain Expert and IEEE 802.3 Representative; USA,

Presented By

3M: This presentation will provide an overview of the benefits of expanded beam optics and 3M’s revolutionary approach to providing expanded beam multifiber single mode and multimode fiber connectivity to support the increasing demands for speed and density in current and future data center architectures. 

Speaker: Duane Preiss, Marketing Director – Optical Components, USA

Presented By