17 Mar 2026
14:45 - 15:45
Expo Theater III
Multiple international standards development organizations (SDOs), such as ETSI-F5G, IEEE, ITU-T, and OIF, have been actively working on optical network standards for 2030 and beyond. In 2020, ETSI officially began standardizing the 5th-Generation Fixed Network (F5G) with the vision of achieving fiber-to-everywhere connectivity. Currently, F5G Advanced (F5G-A) is being defined to support the future evolution of fixed telecommunications networks towards 2030. Similar to ITU-R’s initiative on International Mobile Telecommunications towards 2030 (IMT2030), ITU-T has recently started a framework to envision International Optical Networks towards 2030 and beyond (ION-2030). At the ITU-T Study Group 15 (SG15) plenary meeting in Geneva in October 2025, the GSTR.ION-2030 had been agreed, and three new projects had been established to take a deep dive into ION-2030 for datacenters optimized for AI, AI-enhanced broadband, and AI-enhanced home networking. In addition, cooperation among these SDOs is strengthening to efficiently and comprehensively address the technical challenges ahead. Among the cooperation topics are optical network generation definitions, use cases, key optical network architectures and technologies, and proof-of-concept demonstrations and verifications, particularly in the emerging areas of ION-2030 for AI and AI for ION-2030.
This Session aims to bring together experts at OFC 2026 to inform and discuss new advances in international standards on optical networks towards 2030 and beyond
Presented By:
Moderators
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Hiroshi Ota
ITU-T SG15 Counsellor, Switzerland
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Xiang Liu
Hong Kong Research Center of Huawei, Hong Kong, China
Panelists
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Vince Ferretti
Corning, United States
Talk: Progress of ITU-T ION-2030 for AI, Datacenters, Broadband and Home Networking
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Marcus Brunner
ETSI ISG-F5G Vice-Chair, Switzerland
Talk: New Use Cases of Next-Generation Optical Networks in the Era of ION-2030 and F6G
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Yuyang Liu
China Telecom, China
Talk: Progress on AI-OTN and ION-2030 for Datacenters Optimized for AI
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Raul Muñoz
Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC), Spain
Talk: Mutual Empowerment between ION-2030 and AI: ION-2030 for AI & AI for ION-2030