15 Mar 2026
16:00 - 18:30
Room 408B
Optical technologies are a key enabler but also a main contributor to the cost and complexity of telecommunications infrastructure, both for fixed and mobile access networks. This workshop aims to explore the commercial potential of optical connectivity solutions in the rapidly evolving landscape of 6G mobile systems and ultra-broadband fixed access networks. The session will bring together experts from academia, industry, and operator communities to discuss how optical technologies can be harnessed for profitable applications in telecom. Participants will delve into state-of-the-art and evolution trends of particularly promising optical technologies, and will consider the specific complexities of designing, deploying and evolving access networks to imagine new possible business opportunities. The workshop will also cover the role of industry collaboration initiatives, where module suppliers, systems vendors and operators join forces to overcome technical challenges and unlock new markets supported by volume optical solutions.
The key questions to address in this workshop are:
- Which optical technologies could help to reduce the cost of deployment or operation of networks?
- Which new use cases and service enhancements could produce new revenues?
- Can we exploit synergies and reuse opportunities for datacom technologies and services?
- Are there synergies or overlaps between mobile and fixed access?
- PON for mobile transport, Fixed Wireless Access, both?
- What is the role of standards in these hybrid networks?
- Open/disaggregated or bookended/proprietary access networks?
Organizers
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Frank Effenberger
Futurewei Technologies Inc., United States
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Sudip Shekhar
University of British Columbia, Canada
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Antonio Tartaglia
Ericsson, Italy
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Jim Zou
Adtran, United States
Speakers
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Rene Bonk
Nokia Networks, United States
Talk: Optical Access Technology Development and Standardization
René Bonk received the Dr.-Ing. (Ph.D.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Dr. Rene Bonk is a lead technology strategist in the CTO organization of Nokia's Fixed Network Division. As the head of Nokia's standardization delegation to ITU-T SG15/Q2 he leverages his expertise in optical communications to drive innovation and standardization. Dr. Bonk is a distinguished member of the technical staff (DMTS) and has over 15 years of experience in optical access systems and networks, photonic components, and standardization.
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Elaine Wong
University of Melbourne, Australia
Elaine Wong (IEEE S’99-M’03-SM’14, Optica Fellow 2020) is Pro Vice-Chancellor (People and Equity) and Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne. Elaine received the BEng degree (Electrical Engineering) and Ph.D. degree from the University of Melbourne, Australia in 1997 and 2002, respectively. She has made numerous significant intellectual contributions in the field of optical fiber communications and optical networking, particularly in the areas of optical access network architectures and subsystem technologies, energy-efficient networking and subsystem technologies, converged/hybrid fibre-wireless networks and subsystem technologies, and more recently in low-latency human-to-machine communications to support Tactile Internet and 5G/6G networks.
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Stefan Dahlfort
Ericsson, United States
Talk: Evolution of Optical Solutions to Support Radio Access Networks: An Industry Perspective
Stefan Dahlfort has been working in the optical communications industry since the mid 1990s. He started at the incumbent telecom operator Telia and founded the optical start-up Wavium before joining Ericsson to lead fiber access research. After holding several leading positions at Ericsson in Silicon Valley and Stockholm, he is currently based in Stockholm as a Principal Standardization Leader. Stefan is the President and Chairman of MOPA and contributes to several standards organizations, such as ORAN and ITU-T. He holds an MSc Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Optical Networking from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Paola Iovanna
Ericsson, Italy
Talk: Reducing Operational Costs and Unlocking New Use Cases in RAN with AI
Paola Iovanna received the degree in electronics engineering from the University of Roma “Tor Vergata” in 1996. From 1995 to 1997, she collaborated with the research center FUB of Rome, working on fiber-optic communications and optical networking. Next, she worked for Telecom Italia, where she was involved in new service experiments based on different access technologies. In 2000, she joined Ericsson, where she is now a Master Researcher, leading activity about networking issues in packet optical technology, traffic engineering, and control plane. Since 2014, her focus has been on transport solutions for 5G, driving experimentation and activity in the European projects framework.
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Ryo Koma
NTT, Japan
Talk: Evolution of Optical Networks and Services: the IOWN Perspective
Dr. Ryo Koma is a Distinguished Researcher at NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories. He has been engaged in research on high-speed optical transmission technologies using digital signal processing for future optical access networks.
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Jaimie Lenderman
Omdia Research, Inc. , United States
Talk: PON’s Potential Beyond Residential: A Market Analyst Perspective
Jaimie Lenderman is a Research Manager at Omdia, a global technology market research firm. She leads a team of analysts and oversees intelligence services focused on the Optical, IP, and Fixed Access markets. With over a decade of experience in the telecoms industry, Jaimie delivers market analysis, forecasts, and strategic insights while building strong client partnerships. A frequent speaker at global industry events, her work has supported key filings and presentations for regulatory bodies such as the FCC and European Commission. Jaimie is based in southwestern Montana.
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Zhixin Liu
University College London, United Kingdom
Talk: Photonic-Aided mm-Wave / THz to Support Future Fixed and Mobile Broadband Access Networks
Zhixin Liu received his PhD from CUHK in 2012. He worked as a research fellow at the Optoelectronic Research Centre at the University of Southampton from 2013 to 2016. He started his academic career as Lecturer at UCL in 2016 and a full professor in 2025. His research focuses on the generation, processing, and detection of high-fidelity signals. He has been actively exploring frequency comb and microwave photonics for low-noise micro/millimetre wave transceivers for 6G and satellite communications, in combination with precise clock dissemination to enable high-capacity and resilient radio access networks.
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Kevin Noll
CableLabs, United States
Talk: Evolution of Optical Access Networks and Broadband Services and Business, a Cable Operator Perspective
Mr. Noll earned his BSEE from the University of Central Florida and MSEE from Villanova University. He has spent 30 years in the telecommunications industry designing, deploying, and managing networks of all sizes and holds patents in the areas of multimedia distribution, fiber optic networks, and network protocols. Kevin Noll is a Principal Architect at CableLabs, where he engages with members, industry experts, and vendors to develop architectures and strategies to guide the cable industry as it continues to expand FTTP deployments across the globe. He is active in standards development efforts in the IEEE, CableLabs, ITU-T and the Broadband Forum.
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Julie Raulin
Adtran Networks SE, Germany
Talk: Open Optical Networking to Support Fixed and Mobile Broadband Access Networks
During her Master’s studies in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at University College Cork, Julie worked with Tyndall National Insitute on introducing Software-Defined Networking (SDN) in switching devices to enable software-based control of the physical layer, including packet flows and the optical plane. She subsequently carried out doctoral research within Tyndall’s Photonic Systems group and UCC’s Computer Science Department, investigating new techniques to (re)configure, monitor, and control optical devices via SDN interfaces. Julie now works with Adtran on the development, extension, and evaluation of network planning, control, and automation solutions for sustainable and resilient packet and optical transport networks.
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Lena Wosinska
Chalmers Tekniska Högskola, Sweden
Talk: Evolution of Optical Solutions to Support Fixed and Mobile Broadband Access Networks: A Research Perspective
Lena Wosinska received her PhD degree in photonics in 1999 and Docent degree in optical networks in 2001 from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, where she became Full Professor of Telecommunication. At KTH, she established and led a highly recognized research group working on optical networks. Currently, she is a Professor with the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, where she moved together with her team at the beginning of 2019. Her research broadly concerns optical communications and networks, with a focus on fiber access and 5G/6G transport networks, energy and cost efficiency, optical data center networks, photonics in switching, network control, reliability, security, and survivability, incl. application of ML/AI.
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Tony Zeng
Huawei Technologies Co., China
Talk: Novel Customer Premises Networks: FTTRoom, Integrated and Coordinated Wi-Fi
Tony leads a standard team in the area of access and on-premises network. Tony is now the Associate Rapporteur of ITU-T Q3/SG15 and actively participates in standard development for about 10 years. He is the standard project leaders (including on-premises quality of experience, Fibre-to-The-Room, power line communication, etc.) and contributes in ITU-T SG15, ETSI ISG F5G, BBF, CCSA TC6. To support a good transfer of technologies to industries standards, Tony also leads research teams over the topics of optical fibre communication, indoor optical wireless communication, Wi-Fi, power line communication.