nology and network planning, and chief technology officer,. Verizon Communications, who spoke on maximizing the impact of optical technology. Among his ...
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GUEST EDITORIAL
OFC/NFOEC CONFERENCE REPORT 2007
Hideo Kuwahara
O
Jim Theodoras
nce again this year, OFC/NFOEC was held in sunny Anaheim, California, although it appears the Anaheim dynasty has come to an end, as next year’s conference will be held in equally sunny San Diego. OFC/NFOEC is no longer just a North American conference, but has grown into an international phenomenon, as demonstrated by the breakdown of paper submissions, with 42 percent from the Pacific Rim, 31 percent from the United States, and 23 percent from Europe. As in previous years, attendance has rebounded since the telco bubble burst, and 40 Gb/s, reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers (ROADMs), and GMPLS continued to be topics of focus. However, this year’s buzz included several new entrants, including optically interconnected silicon. While for the foreseeable future the only optical interconnect in our laptops will remain the infrared data ports, breakthroughs announced at the show are important milestones in the integration of silicon and optical technologies. Also, the case for 100GE was a topic fervently argued in the hallways, with both papers and show floor demonstrations providing impetus. And coherent detection appeared poised for a comeback, as link budgets strain under higher bandwidths. The awards session saw Professor David N. Payne receiving the IEEE Photonics Award for his pioneering work in fiber-based technologies while leading the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton. Emmanuel Desurvire received the John Tyndall Award for his many contributions to diverse areas of optical communication, including pioneering work in erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. The plenary session boasted excellent presentations from three world renowned individuals, beginning with Chongcheng (C. C.) Fan, retired professor, Electronic Engineering Department, Tsinghua University, and vice director of the Professional Group of Optical Communication, Chinese Institute of Communication. Professor Fan spoke on optical communication activities in mainland China and presented his vision on how academia, equipment vendors, and carriers interact to deliver broadband to consumers, concluding with the beautiful analogy that it is now Spring (“If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”), and one should give thought to what flower bloom will satisfy your customer. The second plenary was given by Mark A. Wegleitner, senior vice president — technology and network planning, and chief technology officer, Verizon Communications, who spoke on maximizing the impact of optical technology. Among his many profound insights, Wegleitner noted that while the recent surge in consumer bandwidth is well known, there has also been a corre-
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sponding increase in “concurrency” within subscribers’ homes, as consumers hook multiple disparate devices to home networks. He also discussed the Trans-Pacific Express and Atlantic Mesh Networks, and introduced Verizon data that multidegree ROADMs based on wavelength selective switch technology have saved 50–60 percent in costs. The plenary session concluded with Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child, speaking on networks without operators, presenting his “flower box” theory of telecommunications. As always, there is something for everyone at OFC/ NFOEC. The technical sessions were of unprecedented quality, having counted 89 invited papers. And for those new to a topic area or trying to broaden their horizons, there were ample tutorials on wide ranging topics from Electronic Dispersion Compensation, Highly Nonlinear Fibers, to D(Q)PSK, Coupled Resonators, and ROADMs. The Service Provider Summit returned again this year, with a keynote from Sanghoon Lee, senior executive vice president, Korea Telecom, on Business Models and Services with Managed Broadband Access, and two panel sessions, the first on FTTx and the second on Emerging Networks. For those attendees most interested in the business side of optics, Market Watch offered up three consecutive days of panel sessions on Business and Management Insights, Opaque vs. Transparent Networks, and ROADMs. One clear recurring theme in both the Service Provider Summit and Market Watch was that of rapidly growing optical communications demand due to strong traffic growth resulting from the deployment of broadband access, IPTV deployment including HDTV, and resultant home networks with high-capacity storage (HDD) and automatic recording functions. Lastly, while the color coded carpet was gone this year, attendees still had no problem finding the Poster Sessions. And this year, as always, some of the most exciting work in optics resided within the poster board lined isles in back of the Expo. From the aforementioned optically interconnected silicon, to self-thermally compensating AlGaInAs lasers, to fiber-end gratings, to photonic bandgap fiber — a cornucopia of optics technology. Once again, OFC has come and gone, the lingering scent of freshly minted conference programs fading. And in the wake of the sea of coffee cups, color coded badges, business cards, and handshakes, we all return to our normal work routines, our newly thinned shoe soles a small price to pay for newfound knowledge.
IEEE Communications Magazine • May 2007
